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IRRIGATION 



FOR THE 



FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD. 



BY 

HENRY STEWAET, 

CIVIL AND MINIXG ENGINEER, MEMBER OF THE CIVIL ENGINEERS' CLUB OF THE 
NORTH-WEST : AUTHOR OF " SHEFHERD'S MANUAL," ETC. 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 





NEW YORK: 

0. JUDD CO., DAVID W. JUDD, Pees't, 

751 BROADWAY. 

1886. 



x-i 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by 

DAVID W. JUDD, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 

U, COPY 

SUFPLIE* FROM 

OOPYmGHT FILES 

JANUARY. 19t1. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAOI!. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Necessity for Irrigation 7—10 

CHAPTER 11. 
Importance of an Adequate Supply of Water ^ 11--20 

CHAPTER III. 
Amount of Water Needed for Irrigation 21—30 

CHAPTER IV. 
Irrigation of Gardens 31—39 

CHAPTER V. 
Preparation of the Surface 40—50 

CHAPTER VI. 
Irrigation by Pipes and Tiles 51—57 

CHAPTER VII. 
Irrigation with Liquid Manure 57—77 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Culture of Irrigated Garden Crops 78-87 

CHAPTER IX. 

Irrigation of Orchards and Vineyards 87—95 

CHAPTER X. 
Irrigation of Meadows 95—105 

CHAPTER XI. 

Use of Springs in Irrigation 105—117 

CHAPTER XII. 
Formation of Water Meadows 118—133 

CHAPTER Xni. 
Irrigation of Meadows and Pastures 133—145 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Drainage of Irrigated Fields j45 153 

CHAPTER XV. 
Management of Irrigated Fields 152—102 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Irrigation of Arable Lands 163—188 

CriAPTER XVII. 
Preparing the Surface for Irrigation 189—206 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Supply of Water— Dams— Pumps— Reservoirs-Artesian Wells 207—237 

CHAPTER XrX. 
Canals and their Construction 237—252 

CHAPTER XX. 
Reclamation of River Flats, Salt Marshes and Submer"-ed Lands 253— ^a 

3 



LIST OF WORKS AND PERIODICALS, 

WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED OR QUOTED IN THE PREPA- 
RATION OF THIS WORK. 

Mudes sur les irrigations de Pyrenees Orientates. M. Vigan. 

Economie Burale. Boussin^ault. 

Experiences sur Vemploi des eaux dans les irrigations. Herve Mangon. 

Italian Irrigation. M. Baird Smith. 

Irrigation in Southern Europe. C. C. Scott Moncrieff. 

Des Irrigations du Fiemont, etc. A. Vignotti. 

Manual of Hydrology. N. Beardmore. 

Etude sur le service Hydraulique. De Passy. 

Irrigations du midi de VEspagne. M. Aymard. 

Spanish Irrigation. C. R. Markhara. 

La Science des Fontaines. Dumas. 

Hydrologie Agricole. De Buffon. 

Traite d^ hydraulique^ Agricoles. Duponchel. 

OutU?ies of Modern Farming. R. Scott Burns. 

Hydraulic Engi7ieering. C. R. Buniell. 

Hydraulic faVes. John Neville. 

Drainage^ Irrigations, etc. M. Barrol. 

Manuel de V Irrigateur. M, Villeroy. 

Irrigations et assainissement des terres. Pareto. 

Theoriques et Pratiques sur les irrigations. De Cossigny. 

Pratique des Irrigations en France et en Alger ie. F. Vidalin. 

Culture des plantes IndustrieUes. G. Heuze. 

Reclamation and Improvement of Agricultural Land. D. Stevenson. 

Journal d'' Agriculture pratique. Pari s . 

Reports of the Department of Agriculture. Washington. 

Pacific Rural Press. San Francisco. 

American Agriculturist. New York. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



When the first edition of this work was issued, the 
practice of irrigation in America was a new thing, so far 
as its application to our modern system of agriculture 
was concerned. Now there are, all through the arid parts 
of the country, vast irrigating canals, which water many 
millions of acres, and support a great number of industri- 
ous farmers and supply food to thousands of hardy miners, 
who would otherwise find it impossible to carry on their 
adventurous but profitable industry. No other country 
in the world offers such vast opportunities for enterprise 
in reclaiming arid wastes by means of irrigation, as the 
United States, and millions of farmers may yet find 
homes where now all is desolation and solitude, as soon as 
the aid of capital is invoked to perform the necessary 
preliminary work. 

In considering this grand future, and the possibilities 
in irrigation which remain to be accomplished, we should 
not lose sight of the great number of smaller enterprises, 
that can be carried out on farms which have a supply 
of water that may be used for the irrigation of meadows 
and fields. Grass is the grand farm crop. It supports 
all our live stock, and is the very basis upon which our 
agricultural prosperity is built up. Clearly, grass is the 
one thing of which a farmer can never have too much. 
It is quite as clear that no farmer has enough of it. 
Yet, by means of irrigation, the yield of this indispens- 
able and invaluable crop might be enlarged many fold. 
Market gardeners suffer every year from dry weather, 
which ruins their most valuable crops ; while water in 
abundance, can be procured under the surface at a small 

(5) 



6 PBEFACE TO THE SECOJTD EDITION". 

expense, and stored in reservoirs for use when it is 
needed. Fruit growers are ..equally interested in irriga- 
tion, and in the active competition now existing, and 
which must always exist in the future, those who will 
secure their crops by means of cheap but efcective irri- 
gating works, will gain a substantial advantage over their 
competitors, and place themselves in a position of security 
and independence of the seasons. 

The profits which are derived from work and enter- 
prise, depend, not so much upon the extent of these, as 
upon the effectiveness of the methods employed to make 
them productive. Five acres, or ten, well cultivated, 
and supplied with abundant water, will yield, in the 
course of ten years, as much profit as fifty, or a hundred 
acres, equally well cultivated, but without any provision 
for the necessary moisture. Many years of observation, 
and renewed experiences, during the past eight years, 
have shown that at least one year in three, there is a 
deficiency of water for the production of full crops, and 
the crops of the greatest value suffer the most in such 
seasons. It is scarcely necessary to do more than to call 
attention to these facts, leaving to the good sense and 
the enterprise of American farmers, the adoption of the 
requisite methods of evading from drouth losses, and the 
securing of a more satisfactory remuneration for their 
labor, by the use of the surplus water on their farms, 
both flowing upon the surface or below it, in such ways 
as are pointed out in the following pages. 

Henky Stewart. 
HacTcensachi N, J., January 7, 1886, 



IRRIGATION 

For the Farm, (tarden and Orchard. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE NECESSITY FOR IRRIGATION. 

The American climate is especially subject to destructive 
drouths, and scarcely a year passes in which the crops 
do not partially or wholly fail over extensive districts. 
That famines do not occur is not that there are no fail- 
ures of crops sufficiently serious to cause them, but that 
our social system is so instantly helpful in case of need, 
that the want and misery that would otherwise certainly 
occur are averted by immediate and generous relief. The 
farmer, when rain fails, is helpless, yet there may be 
abundant water flowing uselessly past his suffering crops. 
We possess vast districts, the soil of which is of the high- 
est fertility, but which remain barren and desert because 
the climate is rainless, yet large rivers flow through these 
arid tracts, and exhaustless subterranean streams pass 
through the subsoil. Water only is needed to make these 
tracts highly productive. The proof of this exists in the 
fact that already several successful efforts have been 
made to reclaim portions of these dry wastes by the ap- 
plication of a system of irrigation. But it is not only a 
question whether or not crops can be produced where 
they are now impossible, or whether or not the effects of 
(7) 



8 IRRIGATION. 

drouths may be averted by irrigation, but whether or 
not the general average of the crops may be largely in- 
creased by the systematic use of partial irrigation, and 
the use of such suppHesof water as a majority of farmers 
can readily avail themselves of in every part of the 
country. 

What farmer is there who has not, in the majority of 
seasons, felt that some at least of his crops could have 
been largely benefited and increased by a copious supply 
of water at critical times ? Market gardeners, whose 
crops on the average reach a value of several hundred 
dollars per acre, and to whom a loss of crop is partial or 
complete ruin, every year experience a vast amount of 
loss which might have been avoided were a supply of 
water available. A portion of this loss, in the shape of 
higher prices, necessarily falls upon the consumers, whose 
resources are insufficient to meet the increased demand ; 
and the poorer of them are compelled in consequence to 
deny themselves those articles of food which are necessary 
to their complete health. The failure is then a public 
calamity. The season of 1874 was especially disastrous 
to strawberry growers, whose crops failed for want of rain 
at the season when the fruit is formed. Here were losses 
approaching in many cases the large sum of a thousand 
dollars per acre to the growers, which might have been 
avoided by the timely application of water. Every year 
there are more or less of such cases in connection with 
such special crops. The present year (1876) has been 
equally disastrous to gardeners and market farmers over 
a large extent in the East. The great difficulty experi- 
enced by the orange growers of Florida is precisely this 
want of water at critical periods. It is unnecessary to 
multiply instances. 

No one doubts the absolute necessity of water to the 
growth of plants. The value of water as a nutriment or 
as a means of conveying nutrinjeijt to plants, however. 



WATER A FOOD FOR PLANTS. 9 

depends upon some facts in vegetable physiology that are 
not generally known or considered. These may be con- 
densed into the following statement: 

Growing plants contain from 70 to 95 per cent of water. 
To the extent that water supplies this necessary constitu- 
ent of a growing plant, it is an actual nutriment. 

The solid portion of the plant consists of matters a\ hich 
enter into it only while in solution in water. Water is 
the vehicle by which the solid part of a plant is carried 
into its circulation for assimilation. If water is not ade- 
quately supplied, an insufficient quantity of nutriment 
only will be carried into the circulation of the plant, and 
its growth will be stunted or arrested altogether. 

No water, whether it be in the state of liquid or vapor, 
can enter into any other part of a plant than its roots. 
The common idea that water or watery vapor is ever ab- 
sorbed through the leaves of a plant is unfounded. 

The quantity of water that must pass through the 
roots of a plant of our ordinary farm crops, and to be 
transpired through the leaves, to carry it from germina- 
tion to maturity, is equal to a depth of 12 inches over the 
whole soil covered by the crop. This is the requirement 
of an average crop upon a moderately well-cultivated soil. 
If the crop is stimulated to extraordinary growth by large 
applications of manure or other fertilizers, a still greater 
supply of water is needed to meet the demands of the 
crop. Thus the yield of a crop depends in certain cases 
entirely upon the amount of water supplied, and to a 
certain extent bears an exact ratio with it. 

The summer rainfall in our climate is rarely, if ever, 
adequate to the requirements of what would be a maxi- 
mum crop, consistent with the possibilities of the soil. 
Our intense heats cause a large proportion of the rain-fall 
to be evaporated directly from the soil. Our copious 
summer rains are seldom wholly retained by the soil, but 
frequently in large part escape into streams and water- 



10 IRRIGATIOX. 

courses, and are lost to vegetation. Our fall, winter, and 
early spring rains come at times when the crops derive 
the least benefit, or none at all, from them. The amount 
of rain-fall that thus escapes paying tribute to our crops 
is by far the largest portion of it. To estimate it at 
three-fourths of the whole would not be unreasonable. 
There would then be left less than 12 inches of water to 
meet the necessities of the growing crops. That this 
sufiBciently accounts for the low average of our yearly pro- 
duction of grass and grain is not at all improbable. The 
supply of water then becomes the measure of the fertility 
of our soil, and our climate, subject to torrid drouths in 
the midst of the growing season, is the obstacle to success 
which meets the farmer rather than the impoverished soil 
— a condition, indeed mainly due to a poverty of water. 

To remove this obstacle to successful cultivation, it is 
only necessary that a system of irrigation be adopted. 
An adequate supply of water, ready for use in case of 
emergency, will render the farmer, the gardener, or the 
fruit grower, to a very large extent, independent of the 
vicissitudes of the season, and secure, beyond accident, 
a full reward for his labor. If with a system of irriga- 
tion a proper system of drainage be also adopted, the cul- 
tivator of the soil will have removed two adverse influ- 
ences, against which he is now called upon so frequently, 
and so ineffectually, to strive. To irrigate economically, 
and successfully, however, is a business which requires a 
large amount of technical knowledge and skill, and the 
expenditure of a considerable amount of capital either in 
money or labor. Irrigation belongs, in fact, to a highly 
advanced condition of agriculture, and can only be ap- 
plied to lands of high value or capacity in the hands of 
intelligent owners. 

But it is clearly manifest at the present time, if it never 
was before, that the farmer, or other cultivator of the soil, 
who would succeed in keeping abreast of our progressive 



AMOUNT OF WATER USED BY PLANTS. 11 

age must labor more intelligently, must greatly increase 
the productive capacity and value of his land, and must 
employ a larger amount of capital in money, or its equiva- 
lent in labor and skill, than he has hitherto done. One 
of the means placed in his hands, by those circumstances 
which ever favor the enterprising and industrious man, 
to employ all these, is to make use of the supply of water, 
from springs, wells, and streams, which may be available 
to nourish and increase his crops when rain is withheld, 
and their growth is consequently arrested. 



CHAPTER II. 

IMPORTANCE OF AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF WATER. 

Water is not only necessary for vegetable growth, but 
it is well established that to a great extent the amount 
of growth depends upon the quantity of water supplied 
to a crop. Years ago, when a large portion of the coun- 
try was covered with forests, and when the cleared soil 
was well filled with the decaying remains of the removed 
woods, the produce of the newly cleared fields was more 
than double that of to day. Then the soil was absorbent 
of water, it was not subjected to the influence of sweep- 
ing winds; the rain-fall was held in the soil for a longer 
time, and did not pass oS in immediate freshets and 
floods. Consequently the crops had a constant supply of 
water, and their yield was a maximum one. As a coin- 
cidence might be cited the comparatively large average 
yield of the soil, in the so-called moist climate of England' 
and Ireland. *^ So-called moist," because, as it happens, 
the annual rain-fall in our so-called dry climate, is near- 
ly, if not quite, double that of Great Britain. Here the 
rain-fall is over 40 inches in the year, there it is not much 
over 20 inches. But the English climate is insular, and 



12 IKRIGATIOX. 

is influenced by the moist winds of the ocean, and the 
fogs from the Gulf Stream. The evaporation from the 
soil is therefore reduced to -a minimum, and the light 
rain-fall, more constant than with us, and consisting of 
frequent light showers, is ample for the needs of vegeta- 
tion. On the contrary our climate is continental and 
subject to the influence of dry winds, and a higher 
temperature, and our heavier but more inconstant rain- 
fall is found inadequate. Hence our low average of those 
crops which need a large quantity of water for their max- 
imum growth, and hence the ineffective efforts of Ameri- 
can farmers to reach the high averages of the crops grown 
in England. 

Some very interesting experiments showing this rela- 
tion between the weight of grain produced and the quan- 
tity of water consumed by the plants, whether evaporated 
through their leaves, or appropriated by their tissues, 
were made in 1874, at the Agricultural Observatory of 
Montsouris, France. The grain grown was wheat. Sev- 
eral kinds of soils and fertilizers were used, which gave 
very varying results, but the variety in the amounts of the 
product was remarkably illustrative of the facts proved. 
The means adopted for determining the results were the 
most complete, and there is no reason to doubt the entire 
accuracy of the conclusions reached. The results are 
given in the following table : 

l.~Table showing the total quaidity of water evaporated and the grain pro- 
duced ; also the quantity of water consumed for one pound of grain in 
nine experiments with vanous fertilizers. 

Pounds of water Fonnd'^ of grain Pminds of irater 

evap6?'afed. produced. for one of grain. 

No. 1 1,616 0.6 3,693 

" 2 1,513 0.8 1,890 

" 3 4,703 2.4 1,960 

" 4 2,203 2.7 816 

" 5 3,363 3.9 1,135 

" 6 4,E27 3.1 1,396 

" 7 4,751 5.5 864 

" 8 7,417 9.3 806 

" 9 7,703 10.6 737 



INSUFFICIENCY OF RAINFALL. 13 

The production of straw was very nearly double that of 
grain in every case, and the increase constant and regular. 

In the very exhaustive experiments which have been 
made by Mr. J. B. Lawes, of Rothamstead, England, to 
ascertain the amount of water consumed by a growing 
crop of wheat, it was very clearly shown, that for every 
pound of dry matter produced, 200 pounds of water was 
evaporated, and that for every pound of mineral matter 
assimilated by the crop, 2,000 pounds of water passed 
through the plant. Mr. Lawes therefore declared, that 
for a maximum crop of wheat, in England, the supply 
of rain water was totally inadequate. Leguminous plants, 
(beans, clover, etc.,) required a still more abundant sup- 
ply of water than wheat, and of course the more luxuri- 
ant the growth, the greater the expenditure of water. 
Comparing the results of Mr. Lawes investigations with 
those at Montsouris, a striking equality is found. In the 
maximum crop there grown, 727 lbs. of water were evap- 
orated for one pound of grain and two of straw, giving 
242 pounds of water for one pound of total produce. 
If, as is probably the case, the weight of the roots was 
included in Mr. Lawes estimate, as it was not in the 
other, the approach to equality between the two results 
would be very close indeed. One therefore corroborates 
the other. 

These results show, in a very remarkable manner, the 
absolute necessity for an adequate supply of water for the 
successful prosecution of an advanced agriculture. The 
plants grown in these experiments were supplied with 
water at libitum. Those which grew luxuriantly under 
the effect of the most active and valuable manure, viz. 
a mixture of phosphate of ammonia, nitrate of potash, 
and chloride of sodium — a very complete fertilizer — are 
seen to have consumed a very large quantity of water, 
and nearly five times as much as those which grew most 
feebly. 



14 IRRIGATION. 

The measure of the water co7isumed may thus he corir 
sidered as the measure of the capacity of the soil to fur- 
nish its product, for it is clear that it* this large quantity 
of water was not supplied, the excessive product of grain 
could not have been grown. If this conclusion be cor- 
rect, we have at once a satisfactory explanation of the 
hitherto strange fact that our best farmers, in no way 
less skillful or less enterprising, and with no less fertile 
soil, than the English farmers, can very rarely reach, and 
still more rarely surpass a crop of 40 bushels of wheat 
per acre, while in England 64 and QQ bushels are com- 
mon with the best farmers. Taking the minimum quan- 
tity of water, (viz. 727 lbs.) evaporated for a pound of 
grain, a harvest of 40 bushels of wheat per acre, would 
consume, or pass through its leaves, an amount equal to 
6 inches in depth, over the whole surface of the ground. 
But this is not a complete statement, for the average re- 
sult of a large number of experiments made in the pre- 
vious year, and these results as well, prove that a crop of 
wheat of 40 bushels per acre, may consume, or evapor- 
ate, through its leaves, a quantity of water equal to a rain- 
fall of over 17 inches ; for the less vigorous the growth, 
the greater is the proportionate consumption of water, 
and the yield which consumed 727 lbs. of water for one 
of grain, was greatly in excess of 40 bushels per acre. If 
to this consumption of water is added the excessive 
evaporation from the soil, consequent, upon the hot suns 
and dry winds of our growing season, as well as the loss 
through the passage of water over the frozen surface of 
the soil, during our long winters, the totally inadequate 
supply of water, for a maximum crop, under our now 
usual conditions, is very evident. It is also evident, that 
where crops can be grown by irrigation, and an ample 
supply of water provided, there the success of the farmer 
will be assured, and there the risks from untimely drouths 
may be wholly avoided. It is also evident that every 



RAINFALL IN CALIFORNIA. 15 

where that the conditions permit of it, onr grass crops 
may, by means of irrigation, be made equal to those of 
the most favored cHmates, and that the productiveness 
of our meadows' may be increased greatly beyond that 
which is now possible by the most skillful culture. 

But a large portion of our territory is practically rain- 
less and arid. The conlBguration of the surface is such, 
that the passage of rain clouds is arrested by high moun- 
tains, and the precipitation is confined to very small and 
elevated areas. This is the case with nearly the whole 
of our territory west of the 100th meridian of longitude, 
or a hue drawn through the western part of Kansas and 
Nebraska, from north to south. In this extensive district 
are found some of the richest soils in the world, which 
will yield, with irrigation, a yearly average of 30 to 40 
bushels of wheat per acre. During the growing season 
the rain-fall is the least ; the greatest amount taking 
place in the winter months in the form of suow. 

The amount of the rain-fall decreases from the 100th 
meridian, where it is less than 20 inches in the year, to 
7 to 15 inches further west, and increases as the Pacific 
Coast is reached, where it measures 9' |^ inches in Southern 
California up to about 23 inches at San Francisco. But 
the fall is very irregular, depending greatly upon local 
causes. This is shown by the following facts, derived 
from scientific observations at various points in Cali- 
fornia, where the contiguity of the coast range of moun- 
tains with that of the Sierra Nevada causes many very 
surprising differences in the amount of the rain-fall. 
Thus while at San Francisco the fall averaged 23 inches 
yearly during 19 years, 14 miles distant at Pillarcito's 
Dam it averaged during nine years, 58 inches yearly. 
This irregularity is intensified by the dry winds which 
absorb moisture to an extraordinary degree ; a north wind, 
hot and dry, which occasionally blows in the San Joaquin 
and other vallies, has evaporated one inch of water in a day. 



16 IRRIGATION. 

The following table gives the range at the various 
localities for the period mentioned, viz. : 

Locality. Period. Rain-fall. 

Fort Reading 3 years 15,9 to 37.4 inches. 

Sacramento 17 '' 11.2 to 27.5 " 

MiDerton 6 " 9.7 to 49.3 " 

Stockton 3 " 11.6 to 20.3 

Fort Tejou 5 " 9.8 to 34.2 " 

Monterey 5 " 8.2 to 21.6 " 

San Diego 12 " 6.9 to 13.4 " 

Benicia 12 " 11.8 to 20.0 " 

During these years in which the rain-fall marked the 
lowest range, the distress amongst farmers was extreme. 
South of Monterey, in the three years from 1868 to 1871, 
neither grass nor grain grew. Hundred of farms were 
abandoned, and stock men drove their cattle, horses, and 
sheep up into the mountains for food and water. In the 
Spring of 1870 the great Santa Clara valley was entirely 
destitute of grass, and the plains of Los Angeles, com- 
prising over a million acres of land, were barren to the 
borders of the streams. Elsewhere the same effects 
were visible, and over the entire State hundreds of thous- 
ands of horses, cattle, and sheep, starved to death. The 
estimate of the farmers, in the southern part of the great 
valley of California is, that but two crops can be secured 
in five years, without irrigation, but in the extreme soufch 
this is to be still further reduced. In 1850 only 7 inches 
of rain fell at San Francisco. 

Further east, in Nevada, Utah and Colorado, where 
the soil is rich and arable, no dependence can be placed 
upon the rain-fall, which does not even serve to start the 
growth of the crops. A great depth of snow, however, 
falls upon the mountains, which in melting fills the rivers 
and can be made to furnish an adequate supply during the 
growing season. Through the whole of this western ter- 
ritory the total supply of water is sufficient to ensure 
good crops yearly, if it can only be secured and utilized. 
The first difficulty lies in arresting its escape, and the 



VALUE OF THIS GRASS CROP. 17 

second in distributing it where it is needed, in an econom- 
ical manner. 

The great valley of California includes an area of 57,200 
square miles, which is equal to that of Illinois or Michi- 
gan. The area of the lesser valleys is equal to 18,750 
square miles, or 12,000,000 acres, susceptible of irrigation. 
For every one of these acres capable of irrigation, there 
are three which serve as a water shed, thus, as it were, 
quadrupling the rain-fall of the valleys, if the water shed 
of the hills can be utilized. 

The area of land that may be brought under irrigation 
in other parts of the comparatively rainless district, and 
the area of water shed, has about the same relative pro- 
portion, but are of far greater extent. Altogether, the 
increase of wealth that must accrue from the reclamation 
of these vast fertile tracts, which want only water to 
cover them with verdure, is beyond computation. But 
this increase of wealth, great as it would be, cannot fail 
to be exceeded by that which would result from the gen- 
eral application of irrigation in those parts of the country 
where only partial watering is needed; and the prevention 
of losses by drouth, and the ravages of destructive insects 
to which moisture is fatal, which every year, in one por- 
tion or another of the country, reduce farmers profits, or 
cause them to disappear entirely. As an example the 
single case of the grass crop may be considered. 

The value of the grass crop of the United States, in- 
cluding hay and the products of pasture, is greater than 
the combined value of all other crops. This statement 
will doubtles be a surprise to many, nevertheless it may 
be substantiated by the following figures. 

The total hay crop of 1870 was 27,316,048 tons, the 
average value of this at a moderate estimate would not 
be less than 110 per ton, or over 273,000,000 dollars. The 
total dairy products, which should be credited to past- 
ure, were estimated, in 1870, as 1,000,000,000 lbs. of 



18 IRKIGATIOX. 

butter, 100,000,000 lbs. of cheese, and 400,000,000 gal- 
lons of milk sold or used. The total value of these is not 
less than 400,000,000 dolUrs. Then there should be 
credited to the grass croj^, in large part, the value of the 
wool and lambs produced, or at least 100,000,000 dollars; 
also one half at least of the value of the yearly increase 
of live stock, which is supported on grass the greater 
part of the year, and this would reach a sum of 200,000,- 
000 dollars. To place these in tabular form would further 
impress the importance of the grass crop upon the mind 
of a reader ; tliis may be done as follows : 

Yearly value of the hay crop $273,000,000 

" *' of dairy products, produced from grass.. . 400,000,000 

" " of lambs and wool, due to pasturage 100,000,000 

" "of increase of other Uve stock 2'o0,0G0,0C0 

Total annual value of the grass crop $673,000,000 

This vast amount is in excess of the value of all the 
rest of our farm products, in which may be included cot- 
ton, corn, wheat, and other grains. 

When we consider that by a complete system of irrigat- 
ing our grass lands alone, the crop could easily be doubled 
in value, the immense importance of the subject to the 
agricultural interest of the country is at once seen. There 
are, comparatively, few cases in which some system of 
irrigation, more or less complete, could not be applied at 
least to grass lands, or to now useless lands that could 
be turned into luxuriant meadows. 

But there is still another view of this matter which 
ought to be considered. It is not only true that water is 
needed to supply the requirements of plants, but when 
used in irrigation, it brings within reach of the plants a 
largely increased amount of nutriment. 

Water is the universal solvent. No water in its natural 
condition is pure. The water of springs and streams 
holds in solution or suspension a quantity of mineral and 
gaseous matters, that possess high fertilizing value. The 



MINERAL MATTER CONTAINED IN WATER. 19 

rain water washes the soil, and whether it flows over its 
surface or percolates through it to the subsoil, it takes up 
in its course a portion of the soluble matters which it 
meets. Thus the water of the earth contains lime, mag- 
nesia, soda, potash, iron, sulphur, silica, ammonia, car- 
bonic acid, nitric acid and oxygen, in solution. Besides 
this, many solid substances are held mechanically and in 
suspension, and are deposited whenever the flow is arrest- 
ed and the water becomes still. 

In Professor Geo. H. Cook's valuable work on the Ge- 
ology of New Jersey, the following examples are given : 

Analysis of water of the Delaware river, made by Hem'y Wurtz, N. J. State 

Chemist. 

Grains. 

Whole solid matter contained in a gallon 3.97 

Consisting of Carbonate of lime 1.30 

" " Carbonate of magnesia 0.89 

" " Carbonate of potash 0.17 

" ** Chloride of sodium 0.11 

** " Chloride of potassium 0.01 

" " Sulphate of lime 0.19 

" *' Phosphate of lime 0.14 

*' " Silica 0.50 

" *' Sesqui-oxide of iron 0.03 

** " Organic matter containing ammonia 0,63 

The water of the Delaware is considered as exception- 
ally free from impurities. It is interesting to notice the 
composition of its impurities in connection with the 
practically inexhaustible fertility of the flats of this river, 
which are annually overflowed and thereby enriched. 

A comparison of the solid matters contained in 100,000 
parts of the waters of several of our rivers is here given, 
as follows, viz. : 

Elvers Passaic. 

Solid contents 12.75 

Inorganic 7.85 

Organic 4.90 

Numerous other examples might be given were they 
needed ; it will be sufficient for the purpose to notice 



i^huylUll. 


Croton. 


ITudson. 


9.41 


18.71 


18.48 


7. £9 


11.32 


14.52 


2.12 


7.39 


3.96 



20 IRRIGATION, 

that these examples are taken from streams, the waters of 
which were carefully examined, with a view to their value 
and use for domestic supply of various neighboring cities; 
and if these waters, selected for their purity, contain so 
much foreign matter, how much must be contained in 
those turbid streams, the waters of which are not only 
highly charged with soluble matter, but carry in suspen- 
sion solid matter of which vast banks are sometimes de- 
posited in the course of a few weeks or months. 

The value of all the water which now passes away useless- 
ly, but which might be arrested and made to deposit on the 
soil, or convey to the roots of crops, its burden of fertiliz- 
ing matter, if it were made useful in irrigation, is more 
than can be readily calculated. An estimate made by 
Herve Mangon in his work entitled Experiences sur 
Vemploi des eaiix dans les irrigations, of the yearly value 
of the solid matter conveyed into the ocean by the river 
Seine, may be cited. He says: ''each 200,000 cubic 
meters of water employed in irrigation, will produce a 
quantity of alimentary substances equal to one average 
butcher's beef. Then the waters of the Seine that are 
lost from the services of irrigation carry into the sea the 
equivalent of one fat ox every two minutes, or 720 every 
twenty four hours, or 262,800 in the year." As compar- 
ed with American rivers the Seine is a small stream; what 
then might be the value of the Missouri, or the Mississip- 
pi, with its affluents, or any one or all of our other rivers 
and streams, great and small, that now pay no tribute to 
us in this direction in any way whatever. 



LANDS THAT MAY BE IRRIGATED. 21 

CHAPTER III. 

THE AMOUNT OF WATER NEEDED FOR IRRIGATION. 

There are but few fields or gardens so situated that 
water may not be applied to them in one or more of the 
methods which have been at one time or another, or may 
be, adopted to irrigate the soil. The only prerequisites 
are, the supply of water and the power to bring it into 
such a position that it can be spread over the land. 
Where, however, the cost of procuring and applying 
water will be greater than the profit to be derived from 
its use, it may be concluded that there irrigation is im- 
possible. There are some lands situated so far above the 
supply, that the cost of raising the water and of providing 
reservoirs to receive and hold it until it could be distrib- 
uted, would be greater than the valuie of any benefits 
likely to accrue from its use. There are others so low 
that to irrigate them, without at the same time provid- 
ing for a perfect system of sub-soil drainage, would be to 
turn them into marshes and ruin them for agricultural 
purposes. In these cases, if the cost of drainage should 
exceed the value of the benefits received from the land, 
it would manifestly be impossible to irrigate them. 

On the other hand, where these hindrances do not 
exist, there are very few physical features of the land 
that could stand in the way of irrigating it. Level lands, 
or lands level in one direction with a slope in another; 
lands sloping in every direction ; hill sides either of mod- 
erate slope or such abrupt slope that terraces must be 
made to retain the soil ; all these may be prepared by 
simple methods of engineering to receive any supply of 
water that can be economically brought to them. Equally 
those lands which happen to lie beneath the level of a 
stream or tidal river ; a marsh, submerged wholly or par- 



22 IRRIGATION. 

tially at certain seasons, or land in similar situations, but 
not overflowed, may frequently be brought under recla- 
mation and made subject to -drainage and irrigation with 
great profit. 

There are also numerous tracts of lands along the bor- 
ders of many rivers and streams that have been washed 
and injured by freshets so as to be in their present con- 
dition worthless for cultivation, which at a small outlay 
may be covered with new soil of a most fertile charac- 
ter, and again rendered useful and profitable by the use 
of appropriate methods of irrigation. Besides these, 
there are extensive tracts of land at the mouths of tidal 
streams or estuaries, or at the confluences of large rivers, 
which are always under water or exist as mud banks, 
which may be reclaimed by judicious engineering, and 
converted in a few years into agricultural land of the rich- 
est quality. All these processes belong to the art of irri- 
gation, and the cases in which one or another of them are 
impossible of application are very rare indeed. 

The supply of water is a more serious consideration 
than the shape or configuration of the land. Where this 
is not naturally available no art of the engineer can pro- 
vide it. The only safe dependence is upon streams or 
springs, and reservoirs in which the rain-fall of winter 
and spring may be gathered and stored. Wells can only 
be depended upon for such a small supply as would serve 
to irrigate a garden or small market farm, where the large 
value of the crops would admit of the cost of raising 
water for a lengthened season and storing it in reservoirs 
for use in emergencies. The idea that artesian wells may 
be made a source of supply for completely irrigating large 
tracts of land, if ever held by any over-sanguine persons, 
must be abandoned. For partial irrigation they may be 
made available, but the quantity of water needed for the 
irrigation of a few acres of land only, in localities where 
there is no summer rain-fall, as upon our Western plains, 



CORRECT ESTIMATES OF WATER NEEDED. 23 

is far beyond the capacity of any artesian well to supply, 
unless it be one of extraordinary volume. 

It is very important that the quantity of water needed 
for irrigation should be accurately estimated. A mistake 
in an estimate may lead to the construction of inadequate 
works, and the useless expenditure of much money. 
Estimates generally err upon the side of insufficiency 
rather than otherwise, and much error has been spread 
abroad by persons and journals having considerable in- 
fluence. Not long ago the *^ Scientific American" edi- 
torially announced that one artesian well would su23j)ly a 
farm of 640 acres upon the plains with water for irriga- 
tion, and would also form a nucleus for many large stock 
farms. " The late Horace Greeley, who, although an en- 
thusiast upon this subject, was more nearly correct, 
thought one artesian well would serve to irrigate a quarter 
section of land, or 160 acres. The wildly excessive esti- 
mates of the value of a certain amount of water might 
be easily disproved by the careful use of a few figures, 
and a little common sense. For instance, let any person 
who has ever watered a garden plot and who knows the 
effect of one inch in depth of water upon a dry soil, con- 
sider the following facts, and then apply them to the mat- 
ter in question, and he will readily see the absurdity of 
the estimates above referred to. 

Ist. There are 6,272,640 square inches in an acre. 

2d. One inch of water, or a stream one inch wide and 
deep, flowing 4 miles an hour, will equal 6,082,560 inches 
in 24 hours. 

3rd, Therefore 1 inch of water flowing 4 miles an hour, 
for 24 hours, will cover one acre nearly an inch deep. 

4:th. One inch of water per week equals 52 inches per 
year, or more than the yearly rain-fall. 

6th. Therefore 1 inch of water should serve to irrigate 
only 7 acres once a week, at least as well as the average 
rain-fall. 



24 IKRIGATIOX. 

6^/i. One inch of water flowing 4 miles per hour, equal 
one and one-fifth quart per second. 

'^th. One quart per second, flowing for 24 hours, will 
cover an acre five-sixths of an inch deep. 

^th. One inch of water flowing 4 miles an hour is equal 
to 18 gallons per minute, or 1,080 gallons per hour. 

Wi. An artesian well, 6 inches in diameter, would give 
a stream of 28 square inches, and would deliver 32 quarts 
per second, if the flow were at the rate of 4 miles an hour. 

lO^A. Such a well would furnish an inch of water per 
day for 28 acres, or an inch a week for 196 acres, which 
would be a very insufficient quantity to irrigate dry open 
soils in places where the climate is arid. 

iWi, The cost of such a well would be at least $5,000 
to 110,000, or more than the value of the land when 
irrigated. 

The estimates made by various authorities upon irriga- 
tion, as to the quantity of water needed, vary consider- 
ably. As a rule, the quantity of water used by some 
irrigators, would seem to be extravagant. Thus we find 
standard authorities upon irrigation, and practical irriga- 
tors, recommending and using quantities of water vary- 
ing from one to four quarts per second, continuously 
flowing for 24 hours for each acre, at intervals of from 
five to fourteen days. It is evident, however, that the 
quantity of water needed to moisten the soil thoroughly, 
depends on certain conditions, which are very variable. 

These conditions are : 

First — the nature of the soil. 

Second — the character of the climate. 

TJiird — the nature of the subsoil. 

As to the Soil. — Soils differ greatly in their power to 
absorb and retain water. Those which absorb most wa- 
ter retain it for the longest time. The power of absorp- 
tion is due to the surface attraction of the particles of 
soil for water. The finer the particles of the soil, the 



POROSITY OF SOILS. 25 

greater will be the amount of water absorbed, because 
the total surface of the particles is greater, and the longer 
will it be retained. Thus a soil consisting of coarse 
gravel will not retain water. A soil of pure (quartz sand 
will absorb but a small quantity, and will soon part with 
it, while a fine alluvial soil will absorb a large amount, 
and retain it a long time. The following table gives the 
results of experiments made by Schiibler, to determine 
the capacities of different soils for water and their com- 
parative power of retaining it. In these experiments the 
different soils were thoroughly wetted with water up to 
the point of saturation, and the increase of weight noted; 
this is shown in the first column. In the second column 
are given the quantities of water which evaporated in 
four hours, the samples of soil being spread over equal 
surfaces. 

Per cent of wafer Per cent of zvater 
absorbed. evajwmfed in 4 hours. 

Quartz sand 25 88.4 

Limestone sand 29 75.9 

Clay soil (40 per cent sand) 40 52.0 

Loam : 51 45.7 

Common arable land 53 33.0 

Heavy clay (20 per cent sand) 61 34.6 

Fine Carbonate of lime 85 , 28.0 

Garden soil 89 24.3 

Humus (peat or decayed vej^etable inatter)181 25.5 

Thus the greater capacity a soil possesses for the ab- 
sorption of water, the longer it retains it. It is obvious 
that upon this depends to a very great extent the quanti- 
ty of water that will be needed for the irrigation of any 
particular soil. Before any calculation, as to the needed 
supply, can be made, this point will have to be duly con- 
sidered and determined by the irrigator or hydraulic en- 
gineer. The difference arising from the variations in the 
texture and composition of soils has been closely studied 
by the French irrigators and engineers. M. Gasparin, 
who stands at the head of the numerous writers upon 
this subject in that country, states that a soil which con- 



26 IRKIGATION. 

tains 20 per cent of sand needs to be irrigated but onc^ 
in fifteen days, while under similar circumstances, another 
soil which contains 80 per cent of sand, should be irrigat- 
ed once in five days. The difference would be still greater 
between soils varying still more in their character, and 
less with those which may be classed between these 
limits. 

As to the Climate. — As already stated, by far the 
largest portion of the water which falls upon the earth's 
surface is removed by evaporation. Observations made 
at Abbot's Hill, England, by Mr. Dickinson, during 
eight years, showed that 90 per cent of the water which 
fell in the summer, or between April 1st and October 1st, 
was removed by evaporation, and only 10 per cent found 
its way into the drains which were from 3 to 4 feet deep. 
The total quantity of water which fell in those six months 
was equal to 2,900,000 lbs. per acre, and of this more 
than 2,600,000 evaporated. It should be remembered 
that this occurred in a moist, cool climate, the verdure 
of the meadows in which is hardly equalled in any other 
country, unless it be in the still more humid Ireland, 
*^ the emerald isle." In England showers occur almost 
daily, and the winds blowing in any direction from the 
sea, seldom more than a hundred miles distant, and gen- 
erally much less than that, are charged with moisture ; 
the maximum summer temperature rarely reaches 80 
degrees, and also from the more northern latitude, the 
sun's rays fall at a comparatively low angle; if then, 
under these conditions, evaporation carries off nine-tenths 
of the moisture from the soil, what allowance must be 
made in our climate, where the atmosphere is drier, the 
summer temperature 20 degrees higher, and where the 
sun's rays fall upon the surface more directly, and more 
ardently. And further, if a large allowance must be 
made in those parts of the country where the rain-fall 
amounts to 40 inches and over, how much morg liberal 



FRENCH UNIT OF SUPPLY. 27 

must the allowance be for those districts where the rain- 
fall is 10, 15, or 20 inches, and where the winds, almost 
completely deprived of moisture, thirst intensely for it ? 
Here is a consideration of great importance, and one 
which cannot be disregarded. 
» It will be evident to the thoughtful reader, that much 
will depend upon the condition of the surface of the 
soil maintained by the cultivator. The amount of eva])- 
oration can be largely controlled by keeping the soil in a 
finely divided and mellow condition, in \\hich it holds its 
moisture with the greatest tenacity. But there are crops, 
such as wheat, oats, etc., which do not admit of cultivation 
during their season of growth, and these must necessarily 
require a larger quantity of water than such crops as com, 
or roots, which can be cultivated. 

In the dry and hot climate of Provence, a district in 
the south of France where irrigation is extensively prac- 
ticed, it has been found necessary to use for each water- 
ing of the soil a volume of water equal to a depth of 3' |^ 
to 4 inches over the whole surface every 10 to 12 days, — 
the usual interval between the waterings. This is equal 
to about 24 cubic inches, or nearly half a quart per second, 
continually flowing for each acre of surface. This allow- 
ance, which in French measures is equal to 1 litre per 
hectare, or 61 cubic inches (=1 litre) per 107,640 square 
feet (=1 hectare), is the basis for all contracts between 
the government which controls or supervises the water 
supply, and the owners of the canals {compagnies con- 
cessionaires de canaux), and between the latter and the 
farmers who buy the water from them. It is the official 
and legal unit of supply, as it were, and is a valuable 
general indication, applicable to any locality or country, 
where water may be used to irrigate soils of different 
characters and for different crops. This may be taken 
as the mean quantity, to be decreased or enlarged as cir- 
cumstances may necessitate the change. 



28 IREIGATION. 

As examples of the nature of these varying circum- 
stances, the following are cited : M. Herve Magnon (a 
frequently quoted authority in works upon irrigation, and 
already referred to here), determines the limits of supply 
as from one to four litres per second per hectare, which 
is equal to from one pint to two quarts per acre, per 
second, continuously flowing. Gardens and market 
gardens require the larger extreme. M. Pareto, another 
French author, in his work upon the irrigation and drain- 
age of lands, {Irrigation et assainissement cles terres), 
mentions some cases in which a quantity equal to one 
quart per second was sufficient to effectively irrigate eight 
acres. This may be taken as the extreme minimum 
limit of supply, very rarely occurring, and altogether ex- 
ceptional. 

The Italian canals, which irrigate 1,600,000 acres, sup- 
ply 24,000 cubic feet per second for this area. This is 
equal to one cubic foot (30 quarts) for 66 acres, or a flow 
of 26 cubic inches per second per acre ; or very nearly 
one quart (which is 57^1^ cubic inches) for each two acres. 
In that country the rain-fall equals 37 to 38 inches per 
annum, the most of which occurs in the irrigating season, 
when there are on the average 71 rainy days in the six 
months from March to October. There the summer tem- 
perature is from 70 to 90 degrees. It will be observed 
that the climatic conditions of Italy closely approach 
to those of the rainy portion of the United States. The 
mean water-supply may therefore be taken as closely ap- 
proximating the quantity required in this country — viz., 
one pint per second, constantly flowing, or 10,800 gallons, 
or 172"'! ,(, cubic feet every 24 hours for every acre. In India, 
one cubic foot per second is made to serve for 200 acres of 
grain crops. In some parts of Spain the same quantity serves 
for 240 acres; in others the same quantity is spread over 
1,000 acres, and the legal allowance in some recent Span- 
ish grants, varies from 70 to 260 acres per cubic foot per 



SUBSOIL ABSORPTION. 29 

second. Eice culture requires a supply equal to one 
cubic foot per second, for each 30 to 80 acres. These 
examples will serve as a basis for calculations, needed to 
meet the widely different circumstances which exist in 
the United States, where possibly the variations of soil 
and climate, over our extensive territory, are unparalleled 
in any other single country in the world. 

As to the Subsoil. — This point needs very little elucida- 
tion. From the preceding remarks, the effects of loose 
or compact subsoils will be seen to exert a considerable 
influence upon the requisite water supply. There are 
soils which rest upon open, coarse, gravelly subsoils, 
which may be compared to a sieve. Other soils, with re- 
tentive clay subsoils, furnish examples exactly the reverse. 
These are unusual cases, but as they may occur, they 
ought to be considered. It does not seem necessary to 
discuss this point further than to call attention to the 
importance of ascertaining the character of the subsoil 
of any tract which it is proposed to irrigate, as a serious 
element in calculating the needed supply of water. The 
minimum direct loss through absorption by the subsoil 
should not be estimated at less than 15 per cent of the 
supply, and a much larger allowance should be made 
when, upon examination, the subsoil is found to consist of 
coarse sand or gravel. 

When we consider the quantity of water needed for 
irrigation, it is clearly seen that springs are rarely of suf- 
ficient volume to be of material value, excepting for 
meadows, and then only for small surfaces or partial 
watering. They may be made, however, to serve an im- 
portant purpose in such cases as these vdicre the area to 
be irrigated is small. Storage reservoirs, in which is 
collected the water of those temporary courses, which 
flow only when the rain-fall is largest and the amount of 
evaporation is least, may be made important sources of 
supply. It is by means of these that a large portion of 



30 lEEIGATION. 

the irrigation needed to make the dry plains of India 
fruitful is accomplished. But by far the most import- 
ant sources of water for irrigation are rivers and streams. 
In these there is an abundant supply, and there is gener- 
ally ample provision for elevating the water, by means 
of dams with canals or by water wheels, to the highest 
portion of the adjacent land which is to be irrigated. 

The scope for the utilization of rivers and small streams 
in irrigation in the United States is of vast extent, and 
the statement which has been made that there are 500,000 
homesteads in the country that could be brought under 
a partial or complete system of irrigation, does certainly 
not overestimate the reality, but on the contrary is doubt- 
less greatly below it. It is for every cultivator of the 
soil to closely scan his own resources in this respect, 
wisely determining to turn them to account as soon as he 
shall have discovered their existence and perceived how 
to employ them. The cost of works for irrigation will 
be greatest where the area to be irrigated is the smallest, 
as for instance in gardens and market gardens ; it will be 
least in the case of meadows, where the distributing 
canals are permanent in character, and between these ex- 
tremes upon arable lands, where for each crop the surface 
must be disturbed, and furrows for spreading the water 
must be made anew at each plowing. The cost will also 
vary greatly, as the facilities for procuring and elevating 
the water may differ. But it may be accepted as beyond 
doubt that there are few gardens, market farms, orchards, 
or meadows that might not be brought under a more or 
less systematic irrigation, and few localities near the 
borders of rivers in the great Western plains, or other 
rainless localities, in which the present arid desert may 
not be redeemed and made to blossom and become fruit- 
ful beneath the beneficient influence of the fertilizing 
waters which now flow uselessly by them. 



IRKIGATION OF GARDENS. 81 

CHAPTER IV. 

IRRIGATION OF GARDENS,— THE SUPPLY OF WATER. 

Gardens and market farms, by reason of the greater 
value of the crops raised upon them, in constant succes- 
sion, will permit the application of more costly methods 
of irrigation than any other cultivated grounds, and from 
their smaller area there is less difficulty in procuring an 
ample supply of water. Few gardens are so siturted that 
water can be procured from a stream without the employ- 
ment of a water wheel or other motive power, a force 
pump, and pipes laid underground, and a reservoir in 
which water may be stored when not needed. But nearly 
every one may be supplied from a well by the use of a 
windmill. A windmill of the smallest size made, and of 
the best construction and self -regulating, costing about 
$100, is able to raise two quarts of water per second to a 
hight of 25 feet. A windmill maybe constructed by any 
fair mechanic at a cost of from $10 to $25, which will 
answer every purpose of those manufactured and sold at 
higher prices, excepting that of regulating themselves 
to the varying forces of the winds. A mill of this char- 
acter maybe fixed in a frame over the well, and the arms, 
of which there may be six, eight, or more, with fans fix- 
ed so as to present their faces at an angle of 45 degrees 
to the wind, are kept in position by means of a vertical 
vane behind them. Another, which consists of six arms 
mounted upon a rotating frame, carries cloth sails. This 
mill requires to be changed as the wind changes, and a 
ladder is attached to the frame upon which it is mounted 
for this purpose. The frame on which to mount it may 
be of timber, as shown in the engraving (fig. 1), or it 
may be a stone or brick building if desired for a sub- 
stantial machine for heavier work. The power is con- 



32 



IRRIGATION. 



structed in the shape of arms — shorter or longer, accord- 
ing to the power needed — fixed to a center-wheel or hub, 
which is mounted and keyed on to an axle. Sails are 
carried on these arms, of sail-cloth or heavy sheeting, of 

a triangular shape, 
as shown in the en- 
graving, which are 
fastened closely to 
one arm and by a 
cord in the corner, 
shown at a, a foot 
or less in length, to 
another. This gives 
sufficient inclina- 
tion backward to the 
sails to gain the mo- 
tion required with a 
front wind. On the 
axle is a crank- 
wheel, I, which 
moves the rod to be 
connected with the 
pump, or it may be 
connected by means 
of pulleys and bands 
to get an upright 
rotary motion, or a 
pair of bevel- wheels 




Fig. 1. — WINDMILL WITH SAILS. 



will give a horizontal rotary movement. A frame, c, is 
carried on a circular table, on which it may be revolved 
so as to enable the sails to be presented fairly to the 
breeze ; a box, d^ at the rear eud of the frame is weighted 
with stone, to balance the weight of the arms and sails. 
A pin passed through holes in the circular table retains 
the frame to the position needed, and keeps the sails 
faced to the wind. 



CISTERIfS AND TANKS. 



33 



A mill with arms six feet long may be made to do work 
equal to one-fourth of a horse-power, if all the working 
parts are well fitted and kept well lubricated, as all 
machinery should be. When out of use, the sails are un- 
tied and removed, or they may be furled and clewed to 
the arms until again required. 

A one-horse railroad-power would also serve a useful 
purpose in raising water from wells into an elevated res- 
ervoir, where it could be stored for use. For smaU 




Fig. 2.— SQUARE TANK. 

gardens the water from the roofs of buildings may be 
collected in tanks or cisterns raised a few feet above the 
level of the ground. 

A round tank, hooped with iron bands, 12 feet deep 
and 15 feet in diameter, will hold over 15,000 gallons. A 
square tank (fig. 2) may be made of jointed and matched 
planks, which are forced closely together by wedges, act- 
ing upon a timber frame which encloses the planks. This 



34 IRRIGATION. 

is the cheapest kind of tank that can be made. One 16 
feet square and 10 feet deep will contain nearly 20,000 
gallons. Tanks of this character can only serve for small 
gardens, or to store water wliich is pumped at night for 
use during the day time. Either of these tanks, if filled 
during the night (to do which will require a stream from 
a pipe of an inch and a half in diameter constantly run- 
ning), and replenished during the day, will furnish 
enough water to give more than one inch in depth over 
an acre of surface. This is the least quantity that could 
be depended upon in a dry season for any effective pur- 
pose, and would need repeating after an interval of four to 
seven days, so that the maximum effort of a tank of this 
size, with a well, windmill or horse-power attached, would 
suffice only in an emergency to water four to seven acres 
of land. Where the ground to be irrigated is of larger 
extent, the tank room and water supply must be enlarged, 
or the diameter of the pipe and power increased. The 
capacity of the pipe increases as the square of the diame- 
ter, by which is meant that if the diameter is doubled 
the capacity is quadrupled. Thus if a pipe one inch in 
diameter supplies one quart per second, a pipe of two 
inches diameter will furnish four quarts per second (or 
two multiplied by two), and a pipe three inches diameter 
will yield nine quarts (or three multiplied by three), per 
second. At the same time the power must be increased 
in proportion to the amount of water elevated, or disap- 
pomtment will result. In estimating power a large allow- 
ance must be made for loss. A horse working in a rail- 
way-power can only raise an equivalent of three-fourths 
of his weight ; the rest disappears in friction; and when 
a stream of water is forced through a pipe of small di- 
ameter for a considerable distance, the loss of power in 
friction is very large, and another fourth of the horse's 
effort must generally be allowed to compensate for it. 
One horse may be expected to raise 180 quarts one foot 



MEASUREMENT OF STREAMS. 35 

high every second, or 6 quarts to a hight of 30 f at. The 
small size windmills are about one-sixth of one horse- 
power. 

Where streams are available, the supply of water will 
be found most ample and most economical. No storage 
tanks are needed in which the water must remain for a 
time, that its temperature may be raised nearly to that of 
the soil, as when wells are used. The water may be 
taken directly from the stream and flowed upon the 
ground. A low dam of two feet in hight may be con- 
structed of planks across the stream, by which power to 
run a small undershot wheel may be secured. Where 
there is facility for backing the water to a greater extent, 
or of procuring a greater fall, a breast-wheel may be used. 
A dam four or five feet high will be sufficient for a wheel 
of this kind, if the stream is four feet wide and six inches 
deep, and runs with a velocity of two miles per hour. 
Such a stream with this fall of water would give sufficient 
power to elevate 11 quarts of water per second a high^ of 
30 feet, or a sufficient supply for about 12 acres of ground, 
or more in proportion to the less hight that the water 
would have to be raised. To calculate the nominal 
horse-power furnished by a fall of water, the velccit}^ of 
the stream in feet per minute, the hight of fall, and the 
sectional area (the width and depth) of the stream in 
square feet, must be multiplied together, and by 62' 1 3, 
and divided by 33,000. 

For instance, if the stream is found to be 5 feet wide 
at the surface, and 3 feet at the bottom, with banks evenly 
sloping from the surface to the bottom, the mean diame- 
ter is found by adding the surface and bottom widths to- 
gether and taking half the sum. In this case the mean 
width will be 4 feet. If the depth in the middle is 6 
inches or half a foot, this mean width is multiplied by 
the depth and the product is the sectional area, which in 
this case is two square feet. To find the velocity of the 



36 IRRIGATION. 

stream a thin shaving or other light floating substance is 
thrown upon the surface, and the exact time in which it 
moves over a definite distance, say 10 rods or 165 feet, is 
carefully noted by walking along the bank watch in hand. 
Let this time be supposed to be one minute. Then the 
sectional area of the stream being 2 feet, this is multi- 
plied by 165 and the product 330 is the number of cubic 
feet of water passing down the stream in one minute. 
A cubic foot of water weighs 62' |^ pounds, therefore 330 
cubic feet weighs 20,625 lbs. If the dam is 4 feet high we 
have 20,625 lbs. of water per minute falling 4 feet, which 
is equal to 82,500 lbs. per minute falling one foot. This 
would, as a matter of course, exactly balance the same 
weight rising the same hight. The whole power of a horse 
attached to suitable machinery is equal to that necessary 
to raise 33,000 pounds one foot high in a minute. The 
force exerted by the falling of 82,500 pounds in a minute 
is equal to 2' 1^ horse-power. But a considerable allow- 
ance must be made for friction, when waterwheels are 
used, and especially where the fall is so small as here sup- 
posed. It would not be safe to expect to gain more than 
one half of the whole effect in this case. The power 
gained would therefore, under ordinary circumstances, 
be about l'|^ horse-power, or sufficient to raise about 
40,000 lbs. or 20,000 quarts a foot high per minute. This 
is equal to about 11 quarts, 30 feet high, per second. 

If it is found necessary to store the water thus elevated 
so as to extend the area that may be irrigated, cisterns of 
substantial construction will be required. These should 
be of brick or stone laid in cement, or hydraulic lime, 
and strengthened with buttresses upon the outside. A bank 
of earth should then be heaped up around it and sodded, 
and if the bank be terraced, it may be utilized by plant- 
ing it. A remarkably elegant structure of this kind is 
to be seen in a market garden at Astoria, Long Island. 
It consists of a large cistern of stone work surrounded by 



TANKS AND CISTERNS. 



37 



earth sodded in part and in part planted, and surmounted 
by a rustic stage and summer-house built of cedar boughs 
and roots. Above the whole, towers a powerful windmill 
which serves to pump the water from a well near by into 
the tank and force it from thence into the extensive 
greenhouses and other buildings upon the farm. Although 
tlie cost of such a structure is large, yet it is in such a 
case as this no more than a necessary outlay of capital, 
without which the business could not be carried on, and 
is simply an expenditure made in a true spirit of economy. 
Such a tank of considerable size and great utility (see 
fig. 3), may be dug in the ground at the highest part of 




-BRICK CISTERN. 



the garden, to such a depth that the soil excavated WiH 
make a retaining bank to support the portion of the wall 
that is above the surface of the ground. This tank, 
which is circular, may be covered with an arch of brick 
work, and may be surmounted by a tool-house or other 
useful building. In this case a brick shaft 2^ 1^ feet thick 
each way should be build in the center from which the 
arch would spring to the circular wall of the cistern ; the 
wall should be 9 inches thick and the bottom may be 
either of bricks laid flat or of cement laid upon the earth. 



IRRIGATIOX. 



This cistern, if 20 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep, 
would hold 30,000 gallons, or enough to water over three 
acres at one time. If the cistern is open the wall could 
slope outward, making an' inverted fru strum of a cone 
(as seen in fig. 4), 32 feet wide at the surface and 8 feet 
wide at the bottom. The earth thrown out at the bot- 
tom will form a support for the upper portion of the 
wall. But before the wall is built the earth thrown out 
should be solidly rammed down in layers made hollow or 




Fig, 4,— OPEN CISTERN. 

of the form of a basin. The form is shown by the curv- 
ed lines in that part of the engraving. 

There is a large variety of pumps adapted to the pur- 
pose of irrigation, but the severe uses to which they are 
put make it desirable to have only those which are con- 
structed entirely of metal or wood. Leather valves are 
soon worn and become useless, causing delays, and serious 
loss of time in repairs. The double action force pumps, 
with metal valves, or the rotary pumps of the ordinary 
kinds with metal pinions which work into each other 
similarly to cogwheels, or those which work upon the old- 
fashioned principle of the Archimedean screw, but which 
nevertheless are protected by a modern patent are all suit- 
able for this work on account of their durability. A 
double-acting force pump of the most simple character 
(fig. 5), made almost entirely of wood, is one of the best 
for this purpose on account of its cheapness and the ease 
with which it is kept in working order. It is formed of 
a block of wood, A, A, in which two parallel holes are 



PUMPS. 



39 



bored lengthwise. In these holes the plungers, B, B, 
made of wood— maple being preferable— are worked by 
rods affixed to a rocking shaft in connection with the 
power above the ground. Between these holes a smaller 

hole, shown by the dotted 
lines, is bored. This bore 
is made to communicate 
with the other two by a 
hole bored from the out- 
side (seen at Cy that por- 
tion shaded and where 
the letter G is seen being 
afterwards plugged up). 
A leather valve is placed 
so as to close the ports of 
this last hole and turn the 
current of water into the 
pump tube. This valve is 
inserted into a dove-tail 
mortise, cut in the bottom 
of the block. A slotted 
plug, i), holds the valve, 
and is placed and fixed in 
a proper position in the 
mortise. The lower por- 
tion of the mortise is closed 
with a plug. To insert 
the slotted plug a hole is 
bored and the bottom of 

Fig. 5.-D0UBLE-ACTING FOBCE PUMP. ^^^^ ^^^^^ .^ ^^^^^ -^^^ ^^ 

give room to chisel away the space in which the valve works 
back and forth. The pump tube may be a log bored and 
inserted into the block, as shown at E. Half-inch iron 
rods may be used to work the plungers. This simple and 
useful pump requires for its construction only those mate- 
rials that are available everywhere, and only such skill as 




40 IRRIGATION. 

is possessed by any village carpenter or mechanic. It ha^ 
been patented by Mr. Ed. Buzby, of Sbamong, N. J. 
Where metal pumps are preferred, the American Sub- 
merged pump made by the Bridgeport (Ct.) Manufactur- 
ing Co. , and which are entirely of metal and almost inde- 
structible, would be found very suitable. For lifting 
larger quantities of water a great variety of wholly me- 
tallic pumps are manufactured by the Hydraulic and 
Drainage Company of Brooklyn, N. Y. 



CHAPTER V . 

PREPARATION OF THE SURFACE. 

An adequate supply of water having been obtained, the 
preparation of the surface of the ground to be irrigated 
is the next work. For gardens this should be very com- 
plete, as the work will be permanent, and the first outlay 
will be the last, if the work is properly done. The method 
of laying out the ground will depend greatly upon the 
nature of the surface. If it is perfectly level, with no 
perceptible s^ope in either direction, the method of bed- 
ding should be employed. This is done by plowing the 
land in ridges of such a width as are most convenient 
for the culture carried on. For market gardens, where 
horse cultivation is practiced, these bed^ may be from 20 
to 30 feet in width. In smaller gardens, in which the 
hoe is used and hand labor employed in cultivation, ridges 
of 10 to 12 feet in width will be found more convenient. 
Where the spade is used altogether and horses are never ad- 
mitted, the ridges may be mads of even less width ; the di- 
mensions depending altogether upon the convenience or the 
necessity of the cultivator. The system described applies 
to each of these cases. The ground is laid out into plots 



PREPARING THE SURFACE. 41 

of a convenient size, which run completely across the 
garden or inclosure, in a direction parallel with that of 
the main water-furrow from which the supply is to be 
derived. In case the garden consists of four, eight, or 
ten acres, or less or more, a proper width of these plots 
^' would be 210 feet. This size would be the more con- i 
Tenient, as 210 feet is as nearly as can be had in practice 
the length of the side of a square acre. Besides, this I 
distance is as great as water can be made to run in a fur- 
row in ordinary garden soil without being all absorbed 
before it reaches the extremity. Between the plots suf- 
ficient spaces will be left for roads, if any are needed, for 
carts or wagons to go through. These plots are then 
divided into other plots of the width designed for the 
ridges. They are then plowed, and the ridges '^ twice 
gathered " — to use a plowman's parlance — which means 




fit * CL 

Fig. 6.— OUTLINE OF THE BED. 

that a back furrow is made in the center of each of these 
secondary plots, and the furrows are thrown each way 
toward the back fuiTow until the ridge is completed. 
The ground should then be rolled. Then another back 
furrow is made over the first, and the ridge is plowed as 
before, making each of the fun^ows shallower than the 
preceding one, so as to leave a gentle slope from the 
crown of the ridge toward the open furrow on each side 
of it. The ridges will then show an outline as seen in 
fig. 6. At the head of each row of ridges or beds the 
ground is plowed into a headland or ridge, which is 
thrown toward the first made ridges, and which slopes 
gradually away from them to the fence or outer boundary 
of the inclosure, the last furrow made, next the fence, 
being plowed deeply so as to provide a ditch for draining 



42 



lERIGATIOX, 



the headland. The principal canal of supply for the 
range of ridges below it will ran along the crest of this 
headland, and a canal of distribution will run along the 
crest of each of the secondary ridges. Each headland 
or principal ridge, with it's canal, and the range of ridges 
starting at right angles from it, each one of them having 
its distributing canal, will then form a system of irriga- 
tion independent of the other series of ridges. Every 
seven of these secondary ridges, if they are 30 feet wide 
and 210 feet long, will occupy one acre of ground. At 
the foot of each series of ridges will be needed a draining 




_ c( cO 

Fig. 7. — SYSTEM OF BEDS. 

furrow, unless the ground is underdrained with tile, to 
carry oS the surplus water. A tile drain between each 
pair of beds or secondary ridges would be the best method 
of drainage, and the supply of water should be regulated 
so that the whole is absorbed and none is allowed to flow 
away unused. The tile drains. are shown at a, a, a, fig. 6. 
The series of beds and canals will then appear as shown 



FORMATION OF BEDS. 43 

in fig. 7, ill which three secondary ridges, a, a, a, with 
the head-ridge, A, B, and the canals, c, c, c, belonging to 
each are shown, with an open drain, d, d, d. The arrows 
show the direction in which the water flows. Fig. 8 
shows the profile of the ridge and section of the head- 
ridge with its canal of supply as if they were cut down 




Fig. 8.— PROFILE OF BED. 

through the center. A, being the head-ridge with its canal, 
a, a, the bed or secondary ridge, c, the drain at the foot of 
the bed, and the dotted line shows the course the tile 
drain w^ould take below the surface, should one be laid. 
Where the ground has a slope in either direction the 
system to be adopted will be much simpler than the pre- 
ceding one. At the head of the slope will be placed the 
canal of supply. This will be the only permanent work 
undertaken. The method of cultivation of the field or 
garden will control the method of distributing the water. 
It will be necessary, however, to cultivate the ground in 
drills or hills or subordinate beds, upon which the water 




Fig. 9. — ^FURROWS FOR A REGFLAR SLOPE. 

may be turned when it is needed, leading it by small fur- 
rows or canals made with the hoe or a small hand plow 
in whatever direction, down or across the slope, as may 
be desired. Generally the arrangement of the canals of 
supply will be as shown in fig. 9, in which the supply 
canal is seen at a, and the drain which carries off the 
surplus water is seen at the foot of the slope at d. A 
low ridge separates the latter from the next supply canal. 
In this method of irrigation the water may be supplied as 



44 



IREIGATION. 



a thin sheet flowing over a smoothed surface, or as a 
number of small streams, flowing in a network of courses 
over the surface, or in regular channels between the drills 
or rows of plants. The ground may be laid out upon 
various plans, as the method of cultivation adopted 
may require. A plan (see fig. 10), adapted for a crop 




Fig. 10.— ARRANGEMENT FOR HILLS OR DRILLS. 

cultivated in hills or drills, each drill forming its own 
furrow of distribution in which the water may flow, is as 
^ follows : A supply canal, seen at a, h, is made at the 
highest part of the ground, with several short canals con- 
necting it with a distributing canal, c, d. From this 
distributing canal the water flows into the furrows, shown 
by the fine Hues. The field is watered in sections by 
closing the canal at any desired place, as at e, /, with a 
sheet-iron plate or wooden gate, shown at fig. 11, in 



IRRIGATION OF SLOPES. 



45 



which is seen the gate, and at fig. 12 the method of its 
use. Obviously by shutting the canal in this manner 
the irrigation is confined to the 
portion of the field circumscribed 
by the closed furrow, shown by the 
dark dotted line, /, /, in fig. 10. 
The direction of the water is shown 
by that of the arrow. Where the 
slope of the around is too abrupt 

Fig. 11.— HAND-GATE. i-i-ij. ^ £ 

to admit of yery long furrows, a 
different plan, shown in fig. 13, may be adopted. In 
this the supply canal, seen at a, h, is the same as previous- 





Fig. 12. — MODE OF DbING HAND-GATE. 

ly described. From this the lateral canals, c, c, c, are 
made, each of which supplies its own dependent furrows, 
and no more water is admitted to these canals than will 





c- 


c> 


I 


k II 


¥ 


11' 





Fig. 13.— FURROWS FOR A STEEP SLOPE. 

water the surface to which it is tributary. These canals 
gradually decrease in size until they disappear at the 



46 



IREIGATION. 



boundary of the field or garden. The water flowing from 
these lateral canals takes the direction shown by the 
arrow. A more elaborate arrangement will be suitable 
to market-farms, where a variety of crops, each needing 
especial treatment, are -grown. (Such a one is shown in 




Fif?. 14. — ARRANGEMENT FOR A MARKET FARM. 

fig. 14.) In this the water is supplied by one or two 
canals, A, B and ^, C, as may be consistent with the slope 
of the ground. A road, d, d, is laid out at one side of 
the plot, crossing the supply canal or feeder by a culvert 
at a, a portion of the ground, e, e, being retained for cul- 
tivation, leaving room to turn a cart or wagon at each 
end of it. The water is turned from the main supply 
canal. A, B, into the main distributing canal A, C. The 



MAPvKET GAIIDEXS. 



47 



ground to be cultivated is laid off into plots such as are 
suitable to the system of culture as at G, H, I, J, K, L, 
These may be irrigated in diverse ways, as for example 
by long furrows, at L, in smaller beds with shorter fur- 
rows, as shown at G, or in furrows running in an 
opposite direction, at H. The flow of water in the 
distributing canals is controlled and diverted by means of 
the hand-gates already described, as at/. 

A modification of this plan of arranging an irrigated 
garden is as follows (fig. 15). An alley-way or cart-road 



^^ 



CO 



H 



=M 



-T^ 



Fig. 15. — METHOD FOR AN IRRIGATED GARDEN. 

may be made opposite the entrance A, which crosses the 
canal by a culvert, and a path is continued quite around 
the enclosure. The beds G, H, I, J", K, are watered 
from the distributing canals as in fig 14, and the flow is 
diverted and controlled by means of the hand-gates already 
described, (fig. 12), which when placed as seen at a, «, 
turn the water on to the bed H. This water may be di- 
rected amongst the hills or drills, wherever it may be 



48 



IRPvIGATI<)N. 



required, by means of small canals made with a hoe and 
the surplus will be caught in the foot drain, h, h. A great 
yariety of methods maybe used with this and the previous* 
plans, so as to meet the necessities of all sorts of crops. 
The renowned Erfurt cauliflowers are grown in gardens 
irrigated on such a plan 'as this ; the water flowing in 
permanent ditches being dipped up with long-handled 
scoops, and scattered about the plants daily. These cau- 
liflowers are grown upon what was originally low, wet 
soil, and the ditches serve at the same time for drainage 
and irrigation. 

A plan for a garden very completely irrigated by means 
of a well or reservoir may be laid out as follows, (see fig. 
16). A road passes through the center and around the 




Fig. 16.— PLAN FOR IRRIGATING FROM A WELL. 

plot. The well and reservoir, windmill or horse-power, 
are situated at the highest part of the ground, (see A). 
From this the water is conveyed by channels, (shown by 
dark lines), to the lower parts of the garden. From these 
channels it is distributed in small furrows to every row of 
plants or vegetables. For a small garden this system is 



WAT Ell Fniiiows. . 49 

doubtless the most perfect of all methods oi irrigation 
by surface channels and furrows ; while for larger ones or 
market farms, in which the supply can be procured from 
wells or carried into reservoirs for final distribution, it is 
equally perfect. The form of the channel deserves con- 
sideration. The typical canal or furrow, (shown at fig. 
17), is one in which the earth thrown out forms a bank 
above the channel, preventing the influx of water from 




Fig. 17.— fob:.! u.-- ruiuiow. 

a neigliboring channel, while the lower bank is not raised, 
ai.d permits the escape of a chin she3t of water over the 
ground below it. There are many forms of furrow avail- 
able which will oGCur to the practical operator as they 
may be needed. But there are some methods of strength- 
ening the f arrov/s against wearing away by the currents 



Fig. 18.— PROTECTED rUUKOW. 

of water worthy of notice. One of these (shown at fig. 
18), consists of a trough of wood, two strips of four or 
six inches in width being used. These are nailed to- 
gether by their edges, and imbedded in the furrow. 
The water, in passing along, is prevented from escaping 
into or from flowing over the soil except at the open 
side of the trough. A portable wooden trough (fig. 19), 
with cross channels, may be used to convey water over 
ground that Is under cultivation, or is not in a con- 
3 



50 



IREIGATION. 



dition to be disturbed with the hoe. This trough is 
peculiarly adapted for use in the system of bedding before 
described, as it may be laid upon the crest of the head 
ridge, and the cross channels connected with the furrows 
upon the crests of the beds. These latter may be made 
of common open horse-shoe drain tiles inverted. The uses 




Fig. 19.— TROUGH FOR CKOSS-FURKOWS. 

to which this kind of drain tiles may be put in surface 
irrigation are very numerous, but they will be so obvious 
to those interested that it is necessary only to suggest 
their usefulness in this regard. 

For carrying the water beneath roads or paths a wooden 
pipe should be provided, (fig. 20). This is made of stout 
plank, placed longitudinally for the sides and cross-wise 




Fig. 20.— CULVERT FOR ROADS. 

for the top and bottom. This method of construction 
gives the extreme strength of the material where it is 
most wanted, and prevents the crushing of the culvert 
by the weight of a loaded cart or wagon, the wheels of 



PIPES AND TILES. 51 

which might otherwise split the covering. These pipes 
are placed in the channels beneath the roads or paths, and 
the earth is heaped over them gradually, sloping in each 
direction. These pipes should be used wherever there is 
danger that earth may fall into the channels, or that they 
imay be injured by rough usage. If made of seasoned 
oak plank two inches thick and bedded in waste lime or 
mortar, they will last many years without deterioration. 



CHAPTER VI. 

IRRIGATION BY PIPES AND TILES. 

Many elaborate improvements have been made within 
the past few years in the practice of irrigation. The 
costly character of these improvements renders them in- 
applicable to any lands except those devoted to crops of 
great value. The minimum value of the crops that may 
be profitably raised by the methods of irrigation here re- 
ferred to may be placed at 1400 per acre. In some cases 
where the profitable use of land depends entirely upon 
these costly plans, this minimum may be reduced con- 
siderably. Thus, rather than have land idle it may pay 
to expend a permanent capital of 1250 per acre, the year- 
ly interest of which, with the annual cost of water, and 
labor, may on the whole result in a yearly outlay of 1100 
per acre,. to produce crops which may realize $250 to $300 
per acre. For a market garden these amounts are much 
less than the average value of the crops produced, and 
many seasons occur in which the losses by reason of dry 
weather at critical periods will amount to more than — or 
many times — the total value of the improvements here to 
be described. It is therefore a question of serious import 
to market gardeners, small fruit raisers, and the propria- 



5ri IRllIGATIOX. 

tors of private vegetable gardens, whether or not they 
could profitably adopt some of these methods which have 
actually been put in operation upon grass farms in Eng- 
land with very satisfactory results as to profit. From a 
careful consideration of this question, there will doubtless 
result a very decided opinion as to its feasibility and its 
profitableness. The simple fact that in many cases the 
crops which, under favorable circumstances, should have 
realized $600 to $1,200 per acre, have been so injured by 
drouth as to fail to pay the cost of production is sufiicient 
to prove the propriety of this opinion, and to induce 
gardeners and fruit growers to adopt methods of securing 
a full crop in spite of the adversity of the season. 

There are many cases in which the methods of surface 
irrigation previously described are unsuitable. Where 
the surfaces are irregular, where the crops are changed 
several times in a season, where the ground is under bien- 
nial or perennial crops and furrows cannot be maintained, 
or where the ground is too valuable to be occupied by 
furrows or water channels, these and other conditions 
will be favorable to the use of one or another of the fol- 
lowing plans. The first to be treated of is that of under- 
ground pipes and stationary hydrants, from which water 
may be distributed under pressure through india-rubber 
hose and sprinklers. An elevated reservoir is provided, 
from which an iron pipe having a capacity equal to an 
inch and a half in area for each acre to be irrigated is 
carried along the center of the garden. A two-inch pipe 
will be required for two acres, a three-inch one for four 
acres, and a four-inch one for eight acres. From this 
other pipes are carried at right angles 200 feet apart to 
within 100 feet of the boundary upon each side. The 
pipes are laid a foot beneath the surface, or so far that 
they can never be disturbed by the plow, (see fig. 21.) 
Upon the lateral pipes, which should be at least an inch 
and a half in diameter, so that the flow shall not be un- 



THE USE OF PIPES. 



53 



duly interrupted by friction, upright pipes or hydrants 
are attached which project at least three inches above the 
surface of the soil. These are about 200 feet apart. They 
are furnished with valves which operate by means of a 
square head and a key. Each one is fitted with a cap 




Fig. 21.— IRRIGATING BY PIPES AND HOSE. 

which screws on or off, and which is attached to the hy- 
drant by a short chain for its preservation. When this 
cap is unscrewed a section joint affixed to the end of the 
hos3 may be screwed in its place. 

When this apparatus is in operation, the water descend- 
ing from the elevated tank or reservoir passes through the 
pipes and the hose, and escapes with some degree of force, 
depending upon the hight of the head, through a flatten- 
ed nozzle, which scatters it in a thin sheet or broken 
shower. With this apparatus one man may water copi- 
ously five acres of ground in a day or night. Each hy- 
drant being the center of a plot 200 feet square, serves 
to irrigate, with 100 feet of hose, very nearly or per- 
haps one acre of ground. To irrigate five acres in 10 
hours would give an hour and a half to each plot, an 



54 



IRRIGATIOX. 



amply sufficient time for an active man to get around a 
plot of 200 by 200 feet. The plan here described is illus- 
trated in figure 22. The well, with reservoir, windmill 
and force-pump, is situated in the center of the plot to 
be irrigated at A. From, this the pipes, shown by the 
double lines, are carried as has been described. The points 







\ 


/ r I 




/ 


\ 


^/ 








1 


/ 










\^ 


1 ^^' 

r 


^\ 










1 


/' 










'^ FTH r' 








-^Q 


A 







































Fig. 22.— PLAN OF PIPES AND HYDRANTS. 

marked upon the lateral pipes show the positions of the 
hydrants, and the dotted circles around a few of them 
show the extent to which the hose covers the ground. 

A modification of this plan has been successfully in- 
troduced in England, where it has been patented, for the 
irrigation of meadows. In this method the distributing 
pipes are laid upon the surface of the ground, 30 feet 
apart, and are perforated in such a manner that the water 
is discharged in a shower of spray upon the ground, (see 



THE USE OF PIPES ON THE SURFACE. 55 

fig. 23.) This distance, however, will depend altogether 
upon the force with which the water is discharged or npon 
the amount of head given to the supply reservoir. The 
operation of this system is illustrated herewith. It has 
the disadvantage of increased cost, but the merit of econ- 
omy of application. One acre is irrigated at a time and 
during one hour. The irrigation is done, as it always 
should be, at night, or between the afternoon and the 
morning. The apparatus is self -operating and needs only 
the turning on and off of the water by an attendant, who 
can be occupied with other work in the intervals. A plan 




Fig. 23. — IBRIGATING BY SURFACE PIPES. 

of subsoil irrigation by means of drain tiles has been in 
operation for many years, although a recent patent has 
been granted in the United States for the invention. The 
patent only refers to perforated tiles. But the common 
drain tiles will answer every purpose that the perforated 
pipes can or will. The plan is very simple. It is exactly 
the reverse of draining by tiles. Large pipes — the size 
being chosen to suit the system tributary to them — are 
laid down, a foot beneath the surface, at the highest part 
of the tract to be irrigated. From these, smaller pipes 
branch as the secondary channels of supply, and from 
them one-inch pipes again branch as distributing chan- 



56 IRKIGATION. 

nels to the limits of the tract. The water escapes through 
the joints of the pipes, and rises by capillary attraction 
or absorption to the surface of the soil. As the water 
will naturally tend to sink in the soil in a greater measure 
than it will rise to the surface, the distributing ]3ipes will 
need to be placed very closely, a distance of from six to 
eight feet being the greatest that should be allowed. This 
system has the advantages of cheapness of material, 
of permanence and of economy in applying the water. 
But it possesses the disadvantages of large cost of labor 
in laying the tiles, and of a very wasteful expen- 
diture of water, a large portion of it escaping downward 
and useless to the crop. The trenches in which the tiles 
are laid may be very cheaply made by plomng twice or 
thrice in the same furrow until it is twelve inches deep, 
and when the tiles are laid, most of the earth may be plow- 
ed back into the furrow again. But one other objection 
will occur, in that for any sort of favorable result the 
slope of the ground must be regular, or the arrangement 
of the tiles must be made with costly exactness. Of the 
three systems here described, this last is the least promis- 
ing, and should only be adopted in those special cases 
when, under a combination of favoring circumstances, it 
offers special inducements. Under such circumstances 
it has been successfully applied in California, and a cor- 
respondent of the ''Eural Press," of San Francisco, from 
Santa Eosa, wrote recently to that Journal as follows : 
'* I have practiced it on a small scale for several years. 
I lay down two-inch tile ten feet apart, so the top of the 
tile is just below the plowshare. I give them just fall 
enough to run the water along, and fasten up the lower 
end. I make the entrance large enough to have plenty 
of head, than turn in a good stream of water that will 
force its way through. By this process the land never 
bakes, but keeps moist and loose. I believe one-fourth 
the water used under the ground is better than the whole 



LIQUID MANURE. 57 

on the surface." Tliis opinion as to the economy of the 
practice will very probably be found premature on further 
experience. 



CHAPTER VII. 

IRRIGATION WITH LIQUID MANURE. 

The ordinary cultivation of gardens exhibits a most 
striking want of economy. Farm gardens, and those 
smaller ones attached to village dwellings, ought to be 
cultivated in the most careful and economical manner. 
Not a drop of rain water ought to be allowed to go to 
waste. The house-slops should be carefully utilized. The 
cesspool, the stable, and the garbage-heap ought to serve 
the useful and appropriate purpose of aiding in the pro- 
duction of the household vegetables and fruits. But, on 
the contrary, it is doubtful if they are so utilized com- 
pletely in any single homestead upon this continent. In 
some few cases they have been made to partially serve 
their proper purpose with the best effects. It is, however, 
in more densely-populated countries that liquid manuring 
has been practiced, and these valuable materials made 
serviceable. Without going so far as China and Japan, 
for examples of this economy, it may be stated that Bel- 
gium, the most thickly-peopled country of Europe, 
offers the nearest and most conspicuous example of the 
preservation of every kind of animal manure, both solid 
and liquid, and its manipulation in tanks for the purpose 
of applying its solution or dilution to gardens and small 
farms. In many parts of England, too, this system is 
closely followed, and the market farmers adjoining towns 
and cities carefully collect the waste of the dwellings for 
use upon their crops. 



58 IRRIGATION. 

But in these instances, by reason of the abundance 
and cheapness of labor and the high value of the crops 
raised, rude and cumbersome methods of gathering, pre- 
paring, and applying these fertilizers are in use. It is yery 
rarely that one can see even in England, in a small way, 
the thoroughly economic system of using liquid manures 
that are made use of in a large way for irrigating farms 
with the liquid waste or '^sewage" of towns and cities. 
Their usual cumbersome methods are not adapted to our 
uses, yet we may gather from them some ideas applicable 
to our circumstances. There is, however, an arrangement 
of house drainage combined with garden irrigation recent- 
ly introduced that has been tested with satisfactory re- 
sults, and that is full of promise for its future general 
adoption. This grew out of the successful application of 
the system of earth closets to some cottages in a village 
in the county of Essex. The vast superiority of these 
over the common filthy cesspool, made more conspicuous 
than ever the inoonvenience, insalubrity and waste of the 
usual slop holes where the liquid waste of the house was 
disposed of. For sanitary purposes a method was devis- 
ed to dispose of this waste, and for economic purposes a 
plan of utilizing it was adopted. 

From the sink of the kitchen a pipe, furnished with an 
air-trap, is made to discharge into a tank built of cement 
concrete outside of the wall of the house. The water from 
the roof is carried to the tank by a pipe, which also serves 
for ventilation. The tank is simply an above-ground 
cistern made water-tight and lined with hydraulic cement. 
The overflow from the tank is made intermittent by the 
ingenious use of a siphon, or bent pipe. The operation 
of this overflow is simple. When the cistern is filled to 
the movable cover, the water then trickles over the 
bend of the siphon into the drain. When this occurs 
the discharge of a pailful of water into the sink and 
through the pipe into the tank suddenly fills the pipe. 



UTILIZING HOUSE-WASTE. 



59 



flushes the siphon and sets it in operation, and the tank 
is drained to the level of the shorter leg of the siphon. 
The contents of the cistern flow away by a pipe, which 
leads from the drain. This tank is called the ''self-act- 
ing flush tank." The cover is a movable plank floor 
which serves to allow access-to the tank for any purpose. 
But this leads to the real subject matter in hand, the ir- 
rigation of the garden with liquid manure. 

By this plan this can be secured whenever it is desired 
by simply introducing into the tank sufficient water to 
set the siphon in operation. The liquid than passes into 
the drain, and from that into subdrains of one-inch drain 
tiles placed one foot beneath the sur- 
face, and escapes through the joints of 
these into the soil. This arrangement is 
seen in the plan given in the accom- 
panying illustration, fig. 24. The outer 
lines represent the boundary of the gar- 
den plot, supposed to be an eigth of an 
acre, or 50 x 100 feet. The tank is seen 
at T ; the dark lines are the irrigating 
drains ; the square dots are inspection 
w^ells, covered with a square stone or 
plank cover, by which examinations are 
occasionally made as to the condition of 
the drains, and the parallel lines between 
the drains are pipes which carry off any 
excess of moisture. This plan is capable of very ex- 
tended application where the land to be irrigated may be 
beneath the level of the site of the house and the tank, 
and no house should be built on a lower level than the 
ground around it. 

.An improved tank suitable for dwellings of a some- 
what superior character is shown in figure 25. The prin- 
ciple is exactly the same as that previously described, the 
material of the tank being different. It is cylindrical in 



ri<?. 24.— PLAN 
OF DRAIN. 



60 



IRRIGATION. 



form, and may be of galvanized iron, of zinc, lead, or 
wrought iron, or of hard brick laid in cement. The dis- 
charge pipe may be of cast iron. This form of tank 
has been found to work with the greatest ease ; two quarts 
of water suddenly discharged into it when full being suf- 
ficient to set the flush into operation. This apparatus 
consists of the cylindrical tank, A, with a trapped inlet, 




Fig. 25. — SELF-DISCHARGING SLOP-TANK. 

which also forms a movable cover to give access to the 
inside of the tank. The pipe from the sink discharges 
over the grating of the inlet, B, as shown in the figure. 
A socket, c, is prepared for a ventilating pipe. There is 
also the siphon, D, and what is called the *' discharging 
trough,"/, consisting of a small chamber made to turn 
round, so that its mouth may be set in the direction that 



FLUSH TANKS. 61 

is required for connecting it with the line of outlet pipes, 
and provided with a movable cover for access to the 
mouth of the siphon. This ** discharging trough " is 
an important feature in the tank, as it is of a peculiar 
shape, which, by checking the outflow of the liquid from 
the mouth of the siphon, enables a smaller quantity of 
liquid flowing into the tank to fill the bend of the siphon 
and set it fully in action. 

In regard to the operation of this tank, and the drains 
connected with it, Mr. Geo. B. Waring, of Newport, R. I., 
writes as follows in the A7nerican Agriculturist of Janu- 
ary, 1876: " I have found that in less than two minutes, 
about two-thirds of a barrel of liquid, (already accumu- 
lated in the tank), flows through the drain in a cleansing 
stream, which an examination shows to have left no refuse 
matters in its course. This tank is not yet made in 
America, and owing to its size and the cost of importing 
it, it is not likely that it will for the present come largely 
into use. In the meantime, the inventor has taken no 
patent in this country, and the invention is open to the 
use of all who choose to adopt it. 

*' The accompanying illustrations show how a perfectly 
efficient flush-tank may be made from a kerosene or other 
tight barrel without much expense. The barrel must be 
a sound one, with its bung well secured, and both of its 
heads in good order. Cut a circular hole in the upper 
head, twelve inches in diameter. Half way between the 
side of this hole and the chime, make another hole two 
inches in diameter. Finish the larger hole with an edg- 
ing made of lead or copper, lapping over about an inch, 
and being securely nailed fast in a bed of white lead. 
This metal should be beaten in a groove or gutter just 
inside of the large opening, having its edge turned up at 
a distance of one inch from the edge of the hole. The 
head will then have an opening ten inches in diameter, 
surrounded by a channel three-fourths of an inch, or an 



62 



IRRIGATION. 



inch deep, and one inch wide. A funnel of the same 
metal, (tin or galvanized iron would soon rust out), should 
be made to fit in this groove, its upper edge being turned 
over about an inch for the purpose. The funnel at its 
lower end should be furnished with a pipe turning up in 
such a way as to constitute-a trap. Near the top of the 




Fig. 26.— BARREL TANK. 

funnel there should be a shoulder capable of supporting 
an ordinary round stove-grate of cast-iron ; this grate is 
intended to keep back any coarse matters which might 
obstruct the siphon, and to serve as a weight to keep the 
funnel in its place. Into the two-inch hole in the barrel 
top insert a ventilating pipe, which may be of tin, and 



HOME-MADE TANK. 63 

which should be carried to the highest conyenient point 
well away from any window or chimney top. Through 
one side of the barrel, close to the top, make a hole large 
enough to receive a 1' |, inch lead pipe, which, being turn- 
ed down to within 6 inches of the bottom inside, and 2 
or 3 inches lower at the outside, is to constitute the siphon 
for emptying the barrel — this pipe should not be larger 
than I'l, inches interior diameter, as the larger the pipe 
the greater the amount of water needed to start it into 
action. The outer end of this pipe delivering into the 
drain is partially shielded from the access of air by an ar- 
rangement which will be described further on. 

" Fig. 26 shows the arrangement of the whole apparatus. 
A is the barrel, b is the metal rim, or gutter surrounding 
the opening ; c is the funnel with 
its trapped outlet ; ^ is the iron 
grate ; e is the siphon ; / is the 
outlet drain ; g is the ventilator ; 
and h is a simple cylinder of gal- 
vanized iron or tin, to be used 
when the top of the barrel is above 
Fig. 27.-PmmEL. ground, so that it may be well 

packed around v/ith leaves or litter without danger of 
these getting in to choke the grate. Where such packing 
is necessary, the whole affair should be housed in to pro- 
tect it from the wind, and indeed it is always necessary 
to prevent the blowing in of rubbish which might plaster 
itself over the grate and prevent the water from entering. 
*'Fi.g. 27 shows more in detail the construction of the 
rim, the funnel, and the grate. The gutter of the rim 
will be always kept full of water from the small amount 
splashing over, and this serves to seal the channel at this 
point just as the bent pipe at the bottom of the funnel 
seals its outlet. These seals are not liable to be forced, 
because of the ample air channel furnished by the ven- 
tilator. 




64 



IRRIGATION. 



^' Fig. 28 is a longitudinal section, and fig. 29 a cross 
section of the outlet drain, show the arrangement for 
checking the flow of the siphon. A dam {i) which may 
be of wood, brick, or any other suitable material, closes 
the drain in front of the siphon to a hight a little above 
its lower end. This is notched down at its top to a point 
just below that of the end of the siphon, in such a way 
that after the barrel is discharged, the siphon itself will 
be emptied and will fill itself with air. This notch is too 
small to accommodate any considerable flow of the pipe, 
and the dam checks back the first water running, and 
helps to bring the siphon into action, but after the flow 
has all passed over, it lets the water behind the dam fall 

low enough to admit air to the 
pipe. I do not know that any 
thing further is necessary in the 
way of practical directions, ex- 
cept to say that the siphon pipe 
had better be attached to the 
side of the barrel, outside and 
in, by bits of tin tacked over it 
so as to prevent it from being in- 
jured. Indeed, the whole siphon might be inside of the 
barrel, its lower end passing out through a hole near the 
bottom ; this arrangement entirely obviates the danger of 
its becoming jammed, or the possibility of a trickling flow 
through it being frozen until the accumulated ice would 
quite close it." 

The danger of filling up the pipes with sediment would 
prevent the application of this system to the use of mat- 
ter from cesspools or barnyard manure tanks. It would 
not, however, prevent its use for the purpose of discharg- 
ing a cesspool through a pipe of sufficient diameter, 4 to 
6 inches for instance, into a manure tank in the stable 
yard, where it could be mingled with the liquid draining 
from the stables. This manure tank would then form 




Fig. 28.— OUTLET,— Fig. 29. 



USE OF LIQUII> MANURE. 65 

the-cesspool ; the overflow from the house tank passing 
into it would flush and cleanse the latter at every con- 
siderable shower. A good supply of liquid matter of the 
very richest fertilizing x)ower would then be at hand for 
use by means of permanent or temporary irrigating. The 
liquid would need to be raised from the cistern by a 
pump worked by wind or horse-power, as has been already 
described, and conveyed through large pipes into the 
distributing channels. These could be permanently made 
of inverted horse-shoe tiles, or in any of the methods here- 
tofore mentioned, or temporarily by the use of the hoe. 

In applying liquid manure it is always necessary to use 
it in a highly diluted state ; even so much diluted that it 
would run off perfectly clear might be of sufficient strength 
for all purj)oses. The danger lies in using it of too great 
a strength rather tlian in diluting it too cojDiously. It 
has been found in practice when a heavy rain had filled 
the tanks at a season when there was but a very small sup- 
ply of manure, and the dilution was certainly not less than 
a hundred times weaker than ordinary liquid manure, 
that the use of this weak liquid upon a plot of corn fod- 
der, gave a wonderful stimulus to the crop, and the sud- 
den change to an intensely dark green color proved that 
it was sufficiently strong, although from its color and 
freedom from smell the source of the liquid would not 
have been suspected. But it should be borne in mind 
that it is easy to injure a crop by using a too concentrat- 
ed liquid manure. 

For the most economical preparation and use of liquid 
manure proper cisterns need to be provided. The most 
convenient situation for these is the barnyard, where the 
drainage from the stables may be gathered, and where, 
above the cistern or near it upon one side, the manure 
may be heaped. When it is decided to use liquid manure 
there need not be so much attention given to the preser- 
vation of the solid manure, and although it may seem to 



6^ IRRIGATION. 

be a sacrifice of this indispensable addition to the soil, yet 
it is far from being such in reality. On the contrary, the 
use of liquid manure is really an economy, and results in 
a saving of time and labor and increases the effectiveness 
of the solid manure. Being applied at the time when, 
and in the condition in which it will enter at once into 
the circulation of the plant, there is no loss of fertilizing 
matter. The crop, fed in its early stages of growth, re- 
ceives its nutriment in such quantities and at such periods 
as will exactly meet its needs and force it into most luxu- 
riant growth. In a dry season a plant may starve in the 
most abundantly manured soil ; but when the manure is 
offered to it in a liquid form, and in copious supply, the 
growth is continuous and vigorous. A rapidly growing 
plant has the power to extract from the soil far more nu- 
triment than a weakly plant possesses, and the stimulus 
afforded to a crop in its early stages enables the strong 
roots to penetrate far and wide in search of food, and the 
vigorous foliage is able to assimilate the abundant nutri- 
ment with rapidity as fast as it is supplied. 

Every cultivator of the soil knows that a good start is 
the making of a crop, and this is precisely what is secur- 
ed by liquid manuring. Therefore the solid manure may 
be used simply as the material from which to manufacture, 
by the help of all the needed rain or other water, as 
abundant a supply of liquid as may be. To extract all 
the soluble portion of the manure is the object, and what 
is left may be reserved to answer the purpose of top- 
dressing or mulching the soil in winter time, or of adding 
to its stock of slowly decomposing organic matter for 
future crops. It will be profitable therefore to adopt 
such a complets system of drains, tanks, and pumps, as 
will save every portion of waste from stable or manure- 
heaps, all the water that may fall upon the roofs and 
sheds, and occasionally pump up the contents of the 
cisterns and force them to filter back again through the 



MANURE TANK. 



67 



heaps of decomposing manure. At the same time such 
accessory fertilizers as gypsum, the various ammoniacal 
salts, or soluble phosphates, or such deodorizing or fixing 
elements as sulphuric acid, largely diluted, may be added 
to the solution to increase its efficiency. 

The construction of the tanks will be here the chief 
consideration. These, where the means are not ample, 
may be of the rudest character consistent with the ability 
to hold and retain water, but otherwise they should be 
constructed with a view to permanence and economy of 
use. A cheap and simple tank, of which a section is 
shown in fig. 30, may be made as follows : A pit or vat, 




Fio. 30.— LIQUID MANURE TANK. 

d, is dug and cemented with water-lime or lined with 
plank so as to be perfectly water-tight. This vat is cover- 
ed with a plank floor, through which a wooden pump 
passes, and rests upon the bottom of the tank. The size 
of the vat of course will correspond with what is required 
of it. A useful size for a market garden, or for a farm 
whore a few acres of soiling crops are raised each year, will 
be 10 feet square and 8 feet deep. At the end of the vat 
another excavation is made sufficiently large to contain 
the pile of manure or materiaJs for a compost that can be 
gathered and used. This cx;cavation, seen at h, may be 



68 IRKIGATION. 

24 to 30 feet long, as wide as the vat, and gradually in- 
creasing in depth from 3 or 4 feet at the further end, 
to 6 or ,8 inches more at the end connecting with the 
Yat. The excavation should be floored with double boards, 
with a coating of asphalt or tar between them, and the 
sides cemented. A coarse grating of stout poles or tim- 

Ibers are laid across this shallow portion of the 
vat, and is supported in the center by blocks or 
short posts placed at intervals beneath it. 
Smaller poles or rails are laid upon these tim- 
bers not more than 6 or 8 inches apart. 
/-j Upon these poles the manure is piled in a 
/-' flat heap, made hollow or disliing at the top, 
so as to collect all the water that may fall upon 
it. The heap need not be more than five feet 
high, which is sufficient to cause an active fer- 
mentation to be kei^t up through the whole of 
it. The materials of which this heap is com- 
j^osed will include every thing of a mineral or 
organic character useful for manure, that can 
be procured. Stable manure, straw, marsh hay, 
weeds, sawdust, peat muck, leaves, woods- 
earth, night soil, leather scraps, tanner's waste, 
butcher's offal, lime, ashes, plaster, and bone 
dust, and the skillful operator will add from 
time to time such chemical substances as he 
needs to enrich the comj^ost. There need be 
no fear of losing ammonia by adding lime. The 
lime is needed for the rapid decomposition of 
the manure, and the water added every day or two to 
the heap will seize upon every particle of ammonia 
formed and carry it into the tank, where it may be 
fixed by the addition of sulphuric acid or gypsum. 
The v/ater in the vat should be frequently pumped out 
for use, and a fresh supply poured upon the heap. A 
pump that will not readily be choked should be used. 



PUMP POP. LIQUID MANURE. 69 

One with a collapsing bucket, with leather sides and 
of a conical form, shown in fig. 31, is the most useful. 
The waste water from the roofs might be discharged 
ujDon the heap by a simple arrangement of spouts. The 
object desired, viz., to gather every soluble part of the 
manure into the vat, should be forwarded by every possi- 
ble means. 

A small and cheap tank suitable for use where the liquid 
manure from the stables and dwellings may be collected 
for distribution, may be excavated and lined with brick, 
and should be circular with an arched roof ; if made 12 
feet deep and 10 feet in diameter, it will contain 6,500 
gallons, or sufficient to irrigate an acre with nearly three- 
fourths of a quart to every square foot. 

Many other forms of tanks may be used for this pur- 
pose. A capacious one may be constructed as follows : 
A circular pit 24 feet in diamete^' and 8 or 10 feet deep is 
excavated. The bottom and sides may be cemented or 
lined with bricks laid in cement. A pillar of brick is 
built in the center, and a brick arch may be sprung from 
the pillar to the wall around it, or beams may be laid 
from the wall to the pillar, centering at the pillar, and a 
plank floor may be laid above them. A wide spout or 
throat leading from the manure heap may carry the liquid 
into the tank, and the drain pipes from the stables and 
dwelling may be made to discharge into it. An en- 
graving of this tank is given on page 37. Many ob- 
vious modifications of this plan will occur to the reader. 

The distribution of liquid manure may be made, as al- 
ready described, through pipes or open furrows, or by 
means of irrigating carts or barrows. The use of carts 
will be found to require a very small outlay at the begin- 
ning, and to be much more satisfactory than would ap23ear 
at first sight. Where the distance to which the manure has 
to be carted is within 400 feet, which would be from the 
center to the outside limits of a square of about 15 acres. 



70 



IRRIGATION. 



carts would be the cheapest method of applying the liquid. 
One acre an hour could be easily watered by a one-horse 
cart, furnished with a spreader six feet long, that would 
cover a width on the ground of about eight feet. If 
the crop is grown in drills two feet apart, the horse would 
occupy one drill, each wheel of the cart one drill upon 
each side, and the spreader would cover half a drill upon 




Fig. 33. — LIQUID MANURE CAKT. 

each side ; thus four drills would be watered at each 
passage. If the drills are three or four feet apart, three 
or two are watered at each passage. In this way one acre 
would be watered at an expense of about 50 cents, allow- 
ing $5 for the cost of the necessary horse, two watering 
carts, and two men. Two carts are needed, as one would 
be fining while the other is spreading. The cart may be 
a large cask holding at least 200 gallons, mounted upon 
wheels with a pair of shafts, the axle being bent to keep 
the load low down, and a distributing pipe perforated with 
holes, and curved forward at the ends. Instead of a bar- 
rel a square tank mounted upon wheels may be used, see 



MANURE CARTS. 



71 



fig. 32. The supply is regulated by means of a ball-valve 
attached to a wire, which is pulled by the driver when 
the valve is to be opened, this is shown at fig. 33. 

For the irrigation of smaller gardens a hand-barrow, 
with a distributor as shown at 
fig. 34, or with a small force- 
pump and sprinkler attached, 
would be useful. It would 
serve in cases where no more 
than an acre can be appropri- 
ated for garden and for fodder 
crops to support a single cow 
or horse, as in thousands of in- 
stances which occur in village dwellings or the suburbs of 
cities and towns. By cultivating small tracts of an acre or 
less upon this system, the domestic supply of vegetables 




-VALVE FOR DISTRIB- 
UTING TANK. 




Fig. 34.— HAND-BAKROW. 

maybe easily raised, together with ample support for one 
cow. It is the vast number of such cases as this to wiiich a 
system of irrigation may be applied, that an aggregate of 
benefit may be derived that will almost balance in indi- 
vidual comfort and advantage the more conspicuous but 
less numerous systems of field and farm irrigation. There 



72 IRRIGATION. 

are probably two or three millions of individuals to whose 
small occupations this system may be applied with a result 
equaling at least a net amount of $100 per year, in each 
case. The material that m'ight be utilized, in most cases 
now goes to waste or serves to vitiate the air and poison 
the surrounding neighborhood. By thus turning it to 
account, a benefit to the public health incalculable in dol- 
lars and cents would result, and at the above reasonable 
estimate a vast addition to the wealth and comfort of the 
people besides. 

A plan for utilizing liquid manure upon gardens or 
farms so situated as to surface that the manure may be 
spread by gravitation, or flowed in furrows from a drain 
issuing from the barn cellar, or from a tank in the barn- 
yard, was described by Col. G. E. Wanng, jr., of Ogden 
Farm, Newport, E. I., in the jUncrican Agricidturist, 
September, 1873. Mr. Waring taking his cue from the 
method of utilizing the sewage of towns upon some Eng- 
lish farms says: ^^A very important lesson for many 
American farmers may be gleaned from the English ex- 
periments in the use of sewage as manure. 

'^ Mr. Mechi, a well known English farmer, still adheres 
to his old system of converting his manure (or much of 
it) into a liquid form, storing it in a large tank where it 
ferments, and forcing it (by steam-power) through under- 
ground iron pipes for distribution over the land through 
a hose. This system is not generally considered either 
economical or advantageous. The plan adopted with sew- 
age, in all cases which came to my notice, is that describ- 
ed as in use at Lord Warwick's farm near Leamington. 

^' While our climate precludes the possibility of using 
winter sewage in this way, we might, in some cases, make 
profitable use of summer sewage if we could get it with- 
out too much cost. What most interests us in the matter, 
is the suggestion that we may adopt a similar means for 
the use of water as a distributing medium for manure. 



ARRANGEMENT FOR MANURE CELLAR. 



73 



'* I will take as an example my owd case at Ogden Farm, 
and will assume that I had (which is not true) a stream 
of water at a sufficiently high level to he led into the barn 
cellar (40x100), which has a capacity of about 200,000 
gallons. This should ordinarily be kept nearly full of 
water, and into it all manure should daily be throwu. 
Care must be taken to ventilate the cellar thoroughly 
wdth side windows, and to have the stable floor above it 
quite tight. An arrangement 
should be made to turn the 
stream into the cellar, or back 
again into its own channel at 
will. Whenever manure was 
required for that part of the 
farm lying low enough to be 
flooded from the cellar (about 
one half of the whole), the gate 
should be opened and the liq- 
uid conducted to the field by 
the system explained below. 
At the same time enough wa- 
ter should be admitted from 
the brook to keep up the head 
in the cellar. This, by its Fig. 35. -esc ape pipe. 
flow, would make a movement in the mass sufficient to 
stir up the sediment and foul the outgoing w\ater. 
The irrigation should be as frequent and as copious 
as the supply of water would allow, and as the best 
growth of the crops required. The water alone would 
be very beneficial, and it would only be stronger or 
weaker according to the extent to which it was em- 
ployed. Of one thing we might be quite sure ; all the 
manure it contained would be distributed in the most 
perfect way possible, and there could be no waste. The 
water would be an addition to its value — there would be 
no deduction in any way. A vast amount of labor would 




74 



IRRIGATION. 



be saved, and the manure would be applied at the right 
time, in the right ivay, and on the right spot. 

*' The winter manure should be hauled, as it now is, on 
the higher parts of the ^farm — no water being admitted 
to the cellar at this season. When the growing season 
came on, then the crops of the lower parts would get the 
benefit of the irrigation. How great a benefit this would 
be to grass land in time of drouth need only be suggested. 

" The accompanying sketches will show the arrange- 
ments to be made at Ogden Farm, and will indicate a 



c=2 



I 



MANURE CELLAR 
WEST END 



1 1 

^-3 



I 



1 






u 



o 



I 

I 



I 



Fi.T. 



-DKIVE-WAY. 



plan which, with such modifications as circumstances re- 
quire, may be adopted for the irrigation of any land with 
sufficient slope. 

*^Fig. 35 shows a corner of the manure-cellar with an 
escape pipe (valved) leading from the very bottom — al- 
lowing the cellar to be drained dry at pleasure. In front 
of the entrance to this pipe a screen of iron rods or wooden 
slats, reaching vertically from floor to ceiling, prevents 
solid matters and litter from choking the pipe. If this 
becomes clogged, it can be cleared with a rake through 
a trap-door in the floor above. This pipe should be used 
only when the water will not flow at the outlets above. 

*^ Fig. 36 shows the arrangement at the west end of the 



DISTRIBUTION FROM THE CELLAR. 



76 



cellar, with an overflow pipe to the north and one to the 
south. The drive-way should be dammed up to raise the 
water to the level of these pipes. 

** Fig. 37 shows the arrangement for the distribution of 
the flow. A main furrow runs from a and x to d. This 

^^ 



Z-' 




10 



\.-JL 






^^ 



4.'- 



/^^^' 



■\ --'- 



.^^ V 






/8 ,.- 



,^v-5"y 



Fio". 37. — PLAN OF FURROWS FOR DISTRIBUTION. 

is the general direction of the slope of the land. The 
laterals 1 to 18 are furrows laid on a fall of 1 inch in 100 
feet. They will not be straight, but must follow the con- 
formation of the ground, so as to preserve a uniform fall. 
The main furrow at x may be supplied either from a or 
from c, and others from h, as in figs. 36 and 37. 

^' The flow being let on, and kept up by a corresponding 
flow into the cellar from the brook, it should pass on to 



73 IRRIGATION. 

the end of 18. (The main furrow is a little deeper than 
the entrance to the laterals. ) Here it will overflow the 
land lying below so much of the lateral as is beyond y. 
Then a gate should be set at y, and kept there until the 
land below the lateral between that point and z has been 
sufficiently flooded. Then remove the gate to z. When 
all the land below lateral 18 has had its supply, set a gate 
in the main just below 17, and repeat the process with 
that. When the south side of the farm has been com- 
pleted, the gate is taken from the main and the water 
allowed to ^o\\ to the end of No. 9. 

'^Nos. 1, 2, 10, and 11 can be flushed only from outlets 
a and b. All the others are low enough for c. 

**0f course, any portion of tlie land may be flooded at 
pleasure, the directions above being given only as an 
illustration." 

The scope for the employment of such methods as 
these suggested in this chapter is far from narrow. The 
profitable employment of liquid manure upon gardens 
and small farms upon Avhich the crops grown are of high 
comparative value, cannot be doubted. It remains only 
that the lead in introducing it be taken by some enter- 
prising but cautious man, in each neighborhood, whose 
success would stimulate hundreds of others to follow his 
example. It is probably too soon to more than hint to- 
wards the use of liquid manure upon farms in this coun- 
try, or the utilization of tlie sewage matter of towns and 
cities. This can only be done with profit wlien the high 
value of lands bears some proportion to the cost of the 
necessary machinery. But upon gardens, especially mar- 
ket gardens, and upon highly cultivated farms where 
heavy fodder crops are grown, and the soil is abundantly 
manured, and where the closest economy in the saving 
and use of manure is practiced, much may be done in this 
way. The author has had practical experience in the use 
of liquid manure — in gardens, and in growing fodder 



SOILING cr.oi's. 77 

crops, to be usod for soiling dairy cows — and is firmly 
convinced that, with ordinary care and ingenuity, the 
crops may be quadrupled, and the profit doubled. For 
instance a clover crop that would under ordinary circum- 
stances be ready to cut for soiling- only in June has, by 
weekly irrigating with liquid manure, been made ready 
eirly in May, and by more frequent watering has been 
cut four times before the first of July, or once every two 
weeks after the first cutting, at a cost, for each watering, 
of not more than 50 cents per acre. Each cutting of the 
crop at least equalled an ordinary yield, or one ton and a 
hal-f of hay per acre. 

As to the value of the system as applied to market 
gardens for the production of such crops as onions, cab- 
bages, cauliflowers, and the smaller vegetables, in which 
flavor, tenderness, and succulence are only secured by 
rapid growth, there can be no bettor proof than the suc- 
cessful cultivation of the small farms of Belgium, a coun- 
try which supports the densest population in Europe, or 
of the market gardens in the vicinity of many French, 
Italian and Euglish cities and towns. In these localities 
the solid and liquid refuse is gathered with the greatest 
care, mixed so as to be readily used, and applied to the 
crops, which, under this treatment, possess a size and qual- 
ity that is never equalled in this country, except by a few 
premium vegetables that are grown in this same manner. 
To have seen this demonstrated in the gardens and in the 
markets of European cities and in isolated cases in this 
country, is sufficient proof, at least, to induce American 
cultivators to attempt to utilize in this most effective man- 
ner this most effective fertilizer. 



78 IRRIGATION. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CULTURE OF IRRIGATED GARDEN CROPS. 

There are a few important leading principles involved 
in the practice of irrigating gardens that should be well ^ 
considered. These will be referred to in the order of 
their importance. 

Drainage. — It is rarely that a well drained soil can be 
injured by a copious supply of water ; but one that is not 
drained may easily be turned into a quagmire by an excess 
of it. Drainage, therefore, should be the first thing pro- 
vided before this method of cultivation, let it be com- 
plete or partial only, is attempted. If the soil is not 
naturally drained by means of an open and porous sub- 
soil of sand or gravel, tile drains should be laid in such a 
manner as to carry off the surplus water in the most 
effective manner. 

The method of drainage will depend upon the system 
of irrigation adopted. If the bedding plan is used, as 
illustrated in fig. 7, page 42, the drains should be laid 
between the beds, and beneath the drain furrows, as 
shown in fig. 37, in which the open spaces seen at a, a, 
represent the drain. These drains should be of inch tile, 
laid three feet below the surface. If laid at a less depth 
there is danger tliat the roots of some varieties of plants 
may penetrate between the crevices and choke_ the tiles. 
Where the arrangement of the water-furrows is such as to 
need change every year, or such as is shown in figures 15, 
17, or 23, the method of drainage should be the ordinary 
one of inch tiles laid 24 feet apart, if the soil is heavy ; 
or 30 feet if of a lighter character, and leading into main 
drains of two or three inch tile. Surface draining would 
be a very unsatisfactory resource, and should be adopted 
only vrherj t'.ie crops would resist the effects of a very 



DRAINS. 79 

cool, moist soil, or upon inclined ground where there 
would be no danger of saturation. AYhatever the ar- 
rangement of water supply may be, the plan of the di-ain 
should be as nearly as possible exactly the reverse. In 
effect the drains should be so arranged as to take up the 
surplus or unused water and carry it off as rapidly as 
possible ; at the same time care should be taken not to 
permit the water to flow into the drains until it has done 
its duty, nor to use so much water that the soil may be 
carried into the drains and these be soon filled with sedi- 
ment. No drain should be carried beneath a canal or 
distributing furrow, unless it cannot be avoided, and then 
never at a less depth than three feet, else a channel of 
communication may be opened between them and the 
water escape, and, what is worse, wash the soil into the 
drains and render them useless. Further remarks upon 
drainage will be found in a succeeding chapter where 
field irrigation is treated, and which may be referred to. 

Cultivation or Disturbance of the Soil. — The soil should 
never be disturbed while it is wet. The operations of 
hoeing, cultivating, weeding, sowing, or gathering the 
mature crops, should be so timed with reference to the 
watering, or the watering should be so timed with refer- 
ence to them, that these operations may be performed 
when the soil is dry and just before the watering. If 
after the watering, upon soils liable to '^ bake," or be- 
come encrusted, the surface under the effects of a hot 
sun becomes hard, the crust should be broken up by cul- 
tivation before it has time to completely harden. 

The Application of Water. — It is not well to put off 
the watering until the ground is very dry, but to apply 
the water while the soil is still somewhat moist and mel- 
low ; it is then more absorptive, and the after effects 
upon the worst of soils, as regards baking, will be 
less troublesome. The soil should be moderately watered 



60 IRP.IGATION. 

a day or two before seed is sown or plants are transplant- 
ed, that it may be in a finely pulveralent condition, and 
when the supply of water is always under the control of 
the operator there is no danger in sprouting the seed and 
thus hastening germination. After sowing or trans- 
planting, the chief care should be to water only very 
moderately, and never allow the water to flow over the 
seed or plant rows, lest the surface should become hard 
aud need stirring, and the young plants be endangered by 
one or the other of these alternatives. Moderate, frequent 
waterings are best for young, growing plants. There is 
far greater danger of giving too much rather than too 
little water at this time. During early growth the appli- 
cation of water at a lower temperature than that of the 
soil is injurious. For this reason, when w^ell-watcr is 
used, it should be exposed to the air in open tanks or 
reservoirs for at least one day before it is used. For the 
same reason watering during a clear sumiy, or a windy 
day is to be avoided, and it should only be done in the 
evenings, or when the sun is obscured with clouds. The 
effect of wind is to increase the evaporation, and thus 
reduce the temperature of the soil immediately after its 
saturation. Tlie quantity of water to be applied will 
depend upon several circumstances that have already been 
referred to. For garden crops, frequent moderate water- 
ings are preferable, and intervals of live days are usually 
allowed. The soil is then kept constantly moist, and the 
growth of the crops continuous. Of course when rain 
falls, a sufficient allowance must be made, but, judging 
from the quantities of water that may be safely applied 
to- crops in the market garden, unless the rain is unusual- 
ly heavy and continuous, it may safely be ignored. The 
quantities used in garden culture in different countries, 
as mentioned in many works upon irrigation, are exceed- 
ingly irregular. It would seem as though the abundance 
of water, and the i)orosity of the soil, measured the sup- 



CROPS. 81 

ply, rather than the needs of the crop. Thus quantities 
varying from a total depth, during the growing season, of 
50 up to over 300 inches upon the surface, have been used 
without any ill effect when tlie drainage has been perfect. 
Experience can be the only safe guide ; the thorough 
, soaking of the soil at intervals of five days, should be the 
limit of the irrigation, and the quantity of water needed 
to effect this will be the maximum supply required. 
AVhen economy of water is a point to be considered, as it 
must needs be v/hen every pint of it is elevated by power, 
it will be necessary to watch the flow in the distributing 
furrows and prevent any escapes into pools and surface 
drains, and such copious w^atering as would leave water 
standing in the furrows for more than an hour or two 
after the flow has been stopped. This must be regulated 
by the judgment of the irrigator acting through a know- 
pledge of the principles involved. 

THE MANAGEMENT OF VARIOUS CROPS. 

Where the climate admits of it a succession of crops of 
garden vegetables may be grown throughout the year, 
and the variations of the seasons practically removed. 
In the climate of California this is easily done by means 
of irrigation there practiced, and in most of our Southern 
States the season of growth may be extended, and in 
some maybe continued throughout the year, if the supply 
of water is only secured. This is one of the great ad- 
vantages of a system of irrigation, by which every where 
a succession of crops, more or less extended, may be se- 
' cured. The general management of the principal garden 
crops will be briefly indicated. 

Asparagus.— The most convenient method of cultivating 
this crop is by '^floors," (see fig. 9, p. 43), over which 
a thin sheet of water may be flowed from a furrow at the 
head towards another at the foot, from which the water 
may be again flowed over another floor below the first. 



82 . IREIGATIOX. 

This arrangement makes it necessary that the ground 
should slope slightly in one direction. The method of 
watering by pipes laid upon the surface, or by hydrants, 
which have been already described, may easily be applied 
to the culture of this vegetable. This crop is one that 
needs but very moderate irrigation. 

Beans. — This crop requires to be planted in beds, ar- 
ranged as shown in figs. 7 and 8, and can be cultivated in 
long succession by means of irrigation. It will stand a good 
deal of moisture, especially when grown to use green as 
" snap beans " which should be fresh and succulent. The 
periods of irrigation should be at intervals of five to 
seven days. Lima beans need equally frequent waterings. 

Corn. — This is a plant which needs much moisture, 
and the watering may be both copious and frequent. It 
may be planted in hills or drills, in either case the system 
of beds or of alternate drills and furrows, which are fed 
from a distributing canal at the head of the bed or drills, 
may be used. 

CaMage. — This crop is cultivated in beds to which the 
water is supplied by furrows, made with the hoe after 
each cultivation. It is a greedy feeder and responds 
quickly to the application of liquid manure. Heads of 
enormous size have been thus grown, and specimens of 
60 pounds in weight have been frequently exhibited that 
were produced by irrigation with liquid manure. It 
will submit without complaint to much moisture if the 
soil is cool ; how it would behave under our hot suns, 
when stimulated by excessive irrigation, is something 
that is yet to be learned. In Florida, however, it thrives 
well when supplied with sufficient moisture ; in central 
Euroj^e, where the market gardener irrigates all his crops, 
the cabbage is only moderately watered, doubtless lest it 
might be stimulated to run to seed ; but where the 
character of the soil and climate arc favorable, and abun- 



CROPS. 83 

dance of water is procurable, there the cabbage, as well as 
the cauliflower, is extensively cultivated not only for home 
consumption but for shipment abroad to distant coun- 
tries. This is the case in Belgium, and in the neighbor- 
hood of Erfurt, (Germany,) where both of these crops are 
cultivated with success and profit, unequaled elsewhere. 
There the method of culture is to choose a low spot of 
ground and divide it into beds of convenient shape, which 
are separated by permanent furrows, in which the water 
flows. The water is sometimes dipped from these fur- 
roAvs by long-handled scoops and poured around the roots 
of the plants. Otherwise the water is flowed on to the 
crops by means of small furrows between slightly raised 
ridges upon which the plants are grown. 

Beets. — This crop is peculiarly suited to culture by irri- 
gation. Few crops thrive so well under the combined in- 
fluence of abundant moisture and a continued high tem- 
perature. The sugar beet, especially, enjoys these con- 
ditions when planted in deep, well-drained soil, and crops 
equal to from 60 to 75 tons of roots per acre are frequent- 
ly grown in the sugar manufacturing districts of central 
and southern France. A specially noteworthy case was 
cited in the Journal (T Agriculture by M. Barral, in which 
a manufacturer of beet sugar at Masny, directed the flow 
of Avatcr from the water wheels, which furnished the 
power for the factory, on to the field of beets. The water 
was charged with all the refuse of the works, the wash- 
ings of the roots and of the impure bone-black, as well 
as that of the sacks in which the pnlp had been pressed, 
the skimmings of evaporating pans, and also the washings 
of the outhouses used by the workmen ; and carried all 
this matter in suspension through the channels and dis- 
tributing furrows to the growing crops. No other fertil- 
izer Las been used during 8 years, and the value to the 
farm is estimated at a yearly sum of $2,000. This 
example, however, relates to field culture, but is yet 



84 IRRIGATION. 

worthy of note as showing how refuse matter may be 
applied iu a similar manner to garden crops. The irri- 
gation of beets, although, it may be profusely applied 
upon light, dee]3, and well drained soil^ must be done 
with proper moderation upon soils that are retentive and 
not well drained. Only so much water must be used as 
to keep the soil fresh, moist, and mellow, and it will be 
safest to irrigate such soils as these more moderately and 
oftener than those of a loose, open, sandy character. 

Carrots. — This crop has been found to thrive exceeding- 
ly well under irrigation upon light soils. A succession 
of crops may be grown throughout the whole summer, 
and by the use of some active artificial fertilizer, the 
growth is rapid and remarkably clean and healthy. Upon 
clay soils this and other deep-rooted crops do not thrive 
very well, and more shallow-rooted crops should be 
chosen. When irrigated, the carrot is cultivated in rows 
upon the flat, the water being led to the plants in chan- 
nels made by the hoe in the intervals between the rows. 
It is very common in garden culture to plant carrots for 
a late crop in rows between other and earlier ones, by 
which the tender young j^lants are shaded and protected 
from the heat. 

Sweet Potato. — This crop is planted in bi'oad, flat beds 
slightly raised above the level, and the water is flowed into 
the furrow between the beds. Upon the light soils, in 
which the crop succeeds best, the waterings are given 
copiously at intervals of from five to seven days. The 
abundant foliage requires a good supply of water. The 
system of ronnded or doubly sloping beds, described 
on page 41, in which the water is carried along the crown 
of the bed, is well adapted to the culture of this root. 

Onions. — This crop is grown very successfully under 
irrigation, and water may be copiously applied. The ex- 
cellent quality, mild flavor, and extraordinary size of the 



CROPS. 85 

Portugal and Italian onions are due to their manner of 
growth in which irrigation is extensively used. The crop 
should be planted in rows between which water is flowed, 
in broad, shallow channels made with a ho«. The water 
should not come in contact with the bulbs, nor should 
the earth be thrown upon them in making the furrow. 

Potatoes. — To grow common potatoes under irrigation, 
with success, needs caution and judgment. As the qual- 
ity of the tubers depends greatly upon the supply of wa- 
ter, judiciously regulated with regard to the character of 
the soil, some care must be exercised as to the quantity. 
Upon light soils the water is given only at intervals of 
nine or ten days, and upon heavier soils, which are more 
retentive, fourteen days elapse between the waterings. 
As soon as the soil is sufficiently dry after watering, the 
surface should be cultivated, which will cause the moist- 
ure to be better retained. A system of drills, or of beds 
slightly raised, is used for this crop, the water being given 
in broad, shallow furrows, made with the hoe at the time 
of cultivation. When the plants nearly cover the ground, 
as they should do at the time of blossoming, the final 
watering is given. No further cultivation should be given 
after this period. 

Peas. — As this crop is generally sown in rows upon a 
flat surface, the mode of watering should be suited to 
this method of planting, and it may be either by a sys- 
tem of beds, fig. 6, or of shallow furrows made between 
the rows with the hoe at the time of cultivation. As this 
crop flowers and seeds during a lengthened period, it may 
be irrigated without regard to the flowering, care of course 
being taken to keep the soil only in a healthful state of 
moisture. 

TJie Small Crops. — Small crops, such as lettuce, rad- 
ishes, etc., are more conveniently cultivated in beds of 
the form shown in fig. 6, over the surface of which the 



86 IRRIGATIOX. 

water flows or trickles from a furrow at the ridge. The 
quality of all these small vegetables is improved by copi- 
ous \ aterings, and a very^ profitable succession may be 
procured by continuous sowings, the growth of which for 
market or domestic use may be hastened and matured at 
pleasure. 

Garden" Fruits. — The various small fruits usually 
grown in gardens may be greatly increased in luxuriance 
of growth, and by cautious treatment, much improved in 
quality, by irrigation. Over- watering, however, will in- 
fallibly tend to deteriorate the quality, if it does not even 
weaken the growth. As soon as the blossom appears 
water should be withheld, unless under extraordinary cir- 
cumstances, and under the supervision of an experienced 
gardener. For strawberries the bedding system is pre- 
ferable, and for other fruits the water may be led by tem- 
porary furrows made with the hoe around the roots of 
the bushes or the vines. 

In concluding these remarks which are not intended 
as a guide to an already practiced and competent gardener, 
but as suggestions to those who desire to secure in a mod- 
erate way by the use of some plan of irrigation, that is 
feasible for them, the full advantages which they can de- 
rive from a family or market garden, and which they so 
often fail to gain, by reason of the frequently recurring 
drouths ; it may be said as a matter of caution, that with 
a supply of water constantly at hand, the danger of using 
too much is greater than that of using too little ; that 
moderately copious waterings at extended intervals is 
far preferable to light but frequent irrigation, which 
scarcely reaches the roots and packs the surface. To 
saturate the soil once a week, or every ten days, will have 
the effect of forcing out of it much of the air that is con- 
tained in it, which will be replaced by a fresh supply as 
the moisture evaporates or sinks in the subsoil. Thus 
the soil is kept loose and mellow, and the necessary cul- 



CROPS. 87 

tivation, which should always follow the watering, will 
retain this condition of the soil. The crops then are re- 
freshed and invigorated, and can resist a comparatively- 
long interval of dry weather. An excess of water may 
very easily be worse than a severe drouth, for permanent 
and irreparable injury may be done to a crop by flooding 
the soil to excess; and not only the season's crop itself be 
lost, but the plants themselves be seriously damaged and 
future crops be imperiled. With caution in this respect, 
an adequate sonsideration for the peculiar character and 
needs of the different plants, a sufficient regard for the 
nature of the soil and its facilities for proper drainage, 
whether natural or artificial, and some reference to the 
ordinary provisions of nature in regard to the supply of 
water, one can scarcely go wrong in applying the practice 
of irrigation to the culture of any of our usual crops of 
vegetables, fruits, flowers or shrubs. The general appli- 
cation of irrigation, with few exceptions in this country, 
will be to make up for the short-comings of dry seasons, 
in which the deficient supply of rain may be made up 
artificially. 



CHAPTER IX. 

IRRIGATING ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS. 

It is doubtful if there is a single orchard or vineyard in 
the United States, except in California, Utah, or Colora- 
do, subjected to a systematic irrigation. At the same 
time it is doubtful if there is any country in the world in a 
which irrigation could be more profitably applied to fruit 
culture than here. The experience of orchardists proves 
that drouth is accompanied by destructive attacks of in- 
sects. How far these depredations might be prevented 
by irrigation cannot be predicated, but it is beyond doubt 



88 IRRIGATION. 

that the vigor of growth that would result from a suffici- 
ent supply of moisture to the roots would greatly mitigate 
the effects of these attacks.^ The apple trees that never 
have an ** off-year" are those grown near bodies of water. 
A California vineyardist who irrigated his vines imme- 
diately raised his product to eight tons of grapes per acre, 
and greatly improved the quality. The newly planted 
orange groves of Florida are frequently destroyed by 
drouth, and methods of irrigation are eagerly sought to 
render their culture more safe and certain. 

But if it were necessary to enforce the advantages of 
the irrigation of orchards, abundant evidence could be 
gathered in the south of France, Italy, and other coun- 
tries of Southern Europe, where the olive, orange, lime, 
almond, fig, apple, and other orchard trees, as well as the 
vineyards, are systematically brought under irrigation. As 
to the vine, it is a question which so far has not been 
thoroughly investigated, whether or not irrigation might 
be made the means of vanquishing the destructive phyl- 
loxera. An experienced vineyardist of Avignon (France) 
submitted his vines during the Winter, which in that lo- 
cality is mild and free from severe frosts, to a lengthened 
irrigation of 30 days, during which a depth of four inches 
of water was constantly maintained in the vineyard. 
This operation has been found to considerably diminish 
the injurious effects of the phylloxera, and to greatly im- 
prove the condition of the vines. This practice might 
be found somewhat dangerous where early Spring frosts 
occur, by which the vines brought prematurely into 
growth might suffer. But no cautious cultivator will 
make serious innovations upon his practice without pre- 
vious careful experiment. In Southern California the 
vineyards are copiously irrigated four times only — at the 
starting of the first growth, at the blossoming, at the 
setting of the fruit, and at the period when the fruit 
commences to color. 



ORCHARDS. 



But without entering into speculations as to what 
events might occur, it is sufficient to know that orchards 
are irrigated with profit ; that in some cases they are 
destroyed, and in numberless instances they are injured 
by a want of water, and that there are probably few cases 
in which a supply of water brought into the orchard 
would not be found advantageous and profitable. The 
methods of irrigating orchards are very simple. It is 
only necessary to put the water where it will do the most 
good, and that is as near as possible to the extremities of 
the rootlets. The extent of the roots of a tree bears a 
ratio somewhat approaching that of the branches. Near 



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b b 

Fig. 38. — PLAJf OF rRRIGATING AH ORCHARD. 

the stem there are few of the root-hairs or fine fibers by 
which nutriment is absorbed. These are found at the 
extremities of the very fine rootlets, and these exist in a 
ring around the tree, the inner edge of which is from 3 
to 4' 1 2 feet distant from the stem. In irrigating an 
orchard, then, the most perfect method of applying the 
water is to distribute it in a broad circular channel around 
the tree, distant about six feet from the stem. 

Where irrigation of orchards is practiced two different 
plans are adopted. The first is a somewhat rude method, 
but is easy and efPective. The water is led into a channel 
between two rows of trees, a, b, fig. 38, and from thence 



90 IRRIGATION. 

into distributing canals, c, c, c, which carry the water 
within a few feet of each tree. (The position of the 
trees in the figure is indicated by the dots.) Here a sharp 
bar is trust into the ground in several places, penetrating 
in different directions toward the roots, and leaving holes 
by which the water soaks into the earth and reaches the 
roots. The second is a more elaborate but a more prefer- 
able method. The water is led from the canals into 
circular furrows which curve so as to embrace the tree. 
(This is shown at 6?, e, in fig. 38.) These furrows are 
broad and shallow, and the water overflows from them in 
a thin sheet or a multitude of little rills which lead to 




a 

Fig. 39.— FORMATION OF FURROWS. 

the lower side of the tree, where they are arrested by 
means of a shght embankment raised with the hoe. In 
this case the water is brought exactly where it is needed, 
and every rootlet is supplied. This is also seen at fig. 39. 
In irrigating vines very similar methods are adopted. 
As the vines are planted in rows, the distributing furrows 
are carried down the center of each alternate row, fig. 40, 
the ground being sloped towards the center of each in- 
termediate row, fig. 41. The water is thus made to pass 
across each row of vines. Beneath the center of the in- 
termediate rows a tile drain should be placed to carry off 
surplus water, and this brings into notice the question of 
druinage as a part of this system of orchard and vineyard 



IREIGATIOX OF VINEYARDS. 



91 



irrigation. As a rule irrigation and drainage should go 
together. Irrigation without drainage will in most cases 
convert a tract of land into a morass. Stagnant water 
is fatal to the life of useful vegetation, and it is here that 
the causes of the failure of many attempts to irrigate 



Fig. 40. — PLAN OF IBKIGATING A VINEYARD. 

originate. In arid territories without rainfall, skillful 
irrigation will supply such a quantity as will be needed 
to supply evaporation from the surface of the soil and the 
transpirations of the plants. If more is given, the sur- 
plus must pass oS through the subsoil, or remaining in it 
will work mischief to the crop. But such an excess of 




a a 

Fig. 41.— FURROWS AND DRAINS IN A VINEYARD. 

water can rarely be procured in arid districts. On the 
contrary, the greatest economy must be exercised in using 
the limited supply, and waste is impossible. 

It is otherwise in those parts of the country where 
partial or periodical irrigation is used. There the water 



92 IRRIGATIOXc 

supply may be copious, and the skill of the cultivator is 
to be exercised in conveying to his field only so much as 
may be serviceable and no more. But to hit the just 
mean is a matter of difficulty, if not impossibility, for 
several reasons. For safety, therefore, in these cases a 
system of drainage is imperatively needed. Especially is 
this the case in orchards and vineyards which are subject 
to so many varieties of blight and mildew, and other dis- 
eases which have their origin in atmospheric or meteoro- 
logical conditions. Except in very rare cases, then, it will 
be imperative that a tile or other drain be laid in the sub- 
soil at least four feet beneath the surface, between every 
two rows of distributing canals. This will remove the 
danger of injuring the plantation by excessive watering. 
The position of the drains is shown by the dark lines, /, 
f, /, in figs. 38 and 40, and by the small rings a, a, beneath 
the surface in figs. 39, 41. 

The roots of trees seek out and follow a supply of water 
with great avidity. Drain pipes in orchards and gardens 
have been frequently penetrated by the roots of the trees 
and completely choked by a dense mass of fibers, eagerly 
appropriating the water found therein. For this reason 
the drainage of orchards by tiles is a somewhat hazardous 
business. To irrigate the soil of an orchard would tend 
to keep the roots near the surface where they would re- 
ceive a sufficiently copious supply of water. With an 
abundant supply of water it is not probable that the roots 
would enter the drains, as the only purpose of their 
entrance there is to seek moisture. This being supplied 
as far as necessary upon the surface, the seeming instinct 
of the roots to enter and choke the drains would have no 
reason to exist, and would not be likely to occur. The 
great depth to which the roots of fruit trees and vines 
penetrate is undoubtedly due in part, if not wholly, to 
the effort to seek and procure sufficient moisture. The 
roots of vines have been found spreading at a depth of 



NECESSITY FOR DRAINAGE. 93 

eiglit feet below the surface in soils that were naturally 
drained and not retentive of water. Although it is a 
matter of conjecture if the roots would descend so far 
when ample moisture may be found near the surface, the 
reasonable probability is that they would not. If the 
habit of deep growth should be a fixed one, it would be 
a question as to how deep the drains should be made in ' 
soils that are well supplied with plant-food in the subsoil, 
but were too retentive of water to permit a healthy growth 
at considerable depth. It is evident that with irrigation, 
and sufficiently deep drainage combined, the vine and 
fruit grower can render himself largely independent of 
seasons and locality, and give his vines and trees an ample 
depth of soil in which to spread their roots, and at the 
same time furnish them with all the moisture they may 
need near the surface. The practice will necessarily be 
modified by the character of the soil and situation ; fruit 
growers, however, are rarely deficient in intelligence, skill, 
or patience, and are abundantly able to make such modi- 
fications of the general principles given in this work as 
may be needed. The practice in those countries where 
orchards and vineyards are irrigated is as follows: The 
periods of irrigation depend upon the heat of the season 
and the dryness of the soil. In the north of France and 
parts of Germany, water is given without any regularity, 
and only when the exceptional circumstances of the sea- 
son make it needful. But further south, where the sum- 
mers are hot and dry, and periodical drouths occur, fruit 
trees are irrigated constantly and vines periodically. The 
penalty for an excessive irrigation is a crop of fruit of in- ^ 
ferior quality; watery, soft, and without flavor; the wood 
and leaf are pushed at the expense of the fruit ; succulent 
fruits crack and burst, and shelled fruits have soft and 
imperfect husks. The effect of too copious irrigation 
upon nut-bearing trees is to develop the whole fruit 
simultaneously, the inner portions complete its growth 



94 IRKIGATION. 

while the woody husk is still soft, and the latter is either 
burst open prematurely, or fails to open at all, from want 
of the growing pressure of the kernels within. It is 
therefore necessary to act with extreme caution. Early 
fruiting trees require little or no irrigation, and late bear- 
ing ones are watered only after the fruit is set, and need 
to grow vigorously. As the ripening season ai^proaches, 
the water is withdrawn, unless the necessity is absolute. 
During flowering no water is given at all, unless exceptional 
drouths occur, and then with moderation and at intervals. 
The custom prevalent in the vineyards of the Crimea, 
a locality in Southern Europe, on the north shore of the 
Black Sea, and one subject to dry hot summers and cold 
bleak winters, is thus described by M. Clemen t-Bertron 
in the Journal d^ AgiHcuUure Pratique: '' There are in 
the Crimea four valleys completely planted in vineyards 
to the extent of about 15,000 acres. The vines are irri- 
gated each year as copiously as possible, not only during 
the winter, but from the termination of the vintages up 
to the season of the next flowering. Some growers even 
irrigate their vines after the flower is passed, but in gen- 
eral little water is given after the month of June up to 
October. As soon as the water has been applied, and the 
ground has dried, the vineyards are cultivated or dug over 
with the spade, and the vines are pruned. i\bout 15 days 
before the vintage, the vines are clipped so as to give air 
to the fruit. After the grapes are ripe, there is no work 
done in the vineyard until the next season's labor begins. 
The cold of winter has not been found to injure the vines, 
although this is sometimes severe and long continued. 
The strength of the wines is not diminished by the pro- 
cess, the proportion of alcohol in them varying from 10 
to 15 per cent. It is found that once the vines have been 
irrigated, the practice cannot be changed without loss of 
the product, and injury to the plants. Clear water is 
preferred to that which contains suspended matter." 



IRRIGATION OF MEADOWS. 95 

The effect of irrigation is sometimes found to render 
both vines and trees subjected to it, yery susceptible to the 
frosts and severe weather of winter. Tliis disadvantage 
seems to be a necessary adjunct, or set-off, to the advan- 
tages gained by the practice. Thus, a severe winter has 
been known to destroy whole groves of olive trees that 
have been irrigated, while scattered trees, not so cultivat- 
ed, have escaped. It is rare that we can altogether 
esca2:)e a combination of circumstances that seem to offer 
us only a choice of evils ; an alternative, either side of 
which is about as disagreeable as the other ; a Scylla and 
Charybdis, neither of which can easily be escaped ; and 
this business of irrigation of fruit trees seems especially 
to be one in which the operator is obliged to exercise the 
greatest care and circumspection to avoid, on the one 
hand, the evils of excess, and on the other hand, the 
periodical and certain dangers which this practice enables 
him to obviate or mitigate when intelligently applied. 



CHAP TEE X. 

THE IRRIGATION OF MEADOWS. 

The permanent meadow is a very unusual adjunct to 
an American farm. Our climate is not naturally well 
adapted to the continued growth of grass. Our hot, dry 
summers are unfavorable. Generally it may be stated as 
beyond question, that the yield of grass is proportionate 
to the supply of water. As has been previously stated, 
no solid nutriment reaches any plant except as supplied 
to it in solution in water. What are the ultimate possibil- 
ities of growth in any crop is unknown to us, but it 
would seem as though they depended greatly upon the 
supply of water thr.t can bo absorbed, sufficient nutriment 



96 IRRIGATIOX. 

of course being provided. Eye grass, upon irrigated 
fields richly fertilized, lias grown at the rate of one inch 
per day, and repeated cuttings have been made at inter- 
vals of 14 days, during a s-eason of several months. Crops 
of grass upon irrigated fields of a total weight of more 
than 80 tons per acre, have been reported by trustworthy 
English farmers in one season. 

Irrigated grass fields in Italy support easily two head 
of fattening cattle per acre, every year, and have long 
done so. In hundreds of localities in European coun- 
tries are irrigated meadows, which have borne grass with- 
out any sign of deterioration within the memory of the 
inhabitants, or the knowledge of readers of local histories, 
although the crop has been cut and removed every year 
during this indefinite period. Whether or not these im- 
mense yields could be further increased by more skillful 
management is not necessary to inquire. These products 
are so far beyond the dreams of an American farmer, that 
they may well be considered fabulous. But there is no 
reason to doubt the facts. On the contrary, they should 
be used as a stimulus for us to adoj^t, wdierever practi- 
cable, the methods by which these crops are produced. 

The average product of grass upon our rich bottom 
lands, will not exceed two tons per acre, and upon up- 
lands one ton per acre is a fair average yield. After a few 
years the best seeded of our meadows begin to deteriorate 
and run out. A change of crop is made and the meadows 
are once more seeded down to run out again in a few 
years. The cause of the failure is the heats and drouths 
which follow the hay harvest, and which cause a cessation 
of growth until they are past. Beneath a temperature 
which would be genial and invigorating to plant growth 
with sufficient moisture, the grass dies for want of the 
sustenance that w^ater w^ould afford. The most valuable 
crop we grow is thus reduced in its possible yield one-half 
or more. The only instance of an approach to permanent 



EFFECTS OF PARTIAL IKEIGATIOX. 



97 



meadows in this country, is the few partiully irrigated 
grass fields wliicli are very sparsely located in hilly regions 
where springs and brooks are led upon the grass upon 
sloping hillsides. In these few cases, year after year, 
crops of two or three tons, and sometimes more, of hay 
are cut. Where a very imperfect irrigation has thus been 
employed for 30 or 40 years, the meadows exhibit no sign 
of deterioration. An occasional dressing of manure, and 
a little fresh seed now and then, keep them in a produc- 
tive condition. But in the majority of these cases the 
water has been utiHzed for this purpose, from sheer neces- 
sity rather than from choice. A spring issuing from a 




Fig 42 —IRRIGATING A HIl LSIDE 

hillside, or upan a level field, with high ground above it, 
and low ground below, either meanders wastefully through 
the level and escapes in an unsightly gulley at the edge 
of the hill, or it spreads over acres of ground, and makes 
a useless and unsightly bog. The careful farmer, to 
avoid this evil, and with an eye to thrift, leads the flow 
into a channel that departs slightly from the level, across 
the field and down the slope. A stone placed here and 
there in the channel, causes the w^ater to overflow, and 
spread in a sheet npon the surface. One by one portions 
of the field are thus watered, and the effect is to induce 
a growth of grass that remains green beneath the snow, 
and grows luxuriantly as soon as it has disappeared, yield- 



98 IRKIGATIOX. 

ing two crops of hay in the year, besides some pasture 
when the springs cease to flow and the ground is capable 
01 bearing cattle. Upon hundreds of farms in Pennsyl- 
vania, and in the valley of Virginia which has been 
settled by farmers from the former State, there are water- 
ed meadows of this character which yield a steady crop 
of hay, year after year, and possess a sod which promises 
to remain 23roductive indefinitely, with its present treat- 
ment. This accidental use of the water has been in 
reality forced upon the farmer. Had it not been brought 
into a channel and confined to one or two canals, it would 
have flowed irregularly over the surface and have formed 
a morass. The process really has been one of drainage 
rather than of irrigation, and the reclamation of the sur- 
face rather than its studied improvement. The methods 
of watering meadows in common use are illustrated in fig. 
42, in which a small stream is led down a slope, and at 
fig. 43, in which the stream is dammed and the water 
carried laterally as far .as ^^ossible. 

If such elementary and imperfect methods have been 
successful and profitable, how much more shall skillful 
and scientific irrigation add to the yield of our most 
valuable crop, and render jDossible the creation of perma- 
nent meadows, upon which grass may be grown in the 
greatest luxuriance, at an almost nominal expense ! 
Mimberless opportunities to make irrigated meadows 
present themselves everywhere. Far from being a matter 
of nicely arranged quantities of water, equally distributed 
at certain definite periods, as with other field crops ; on 
the contrary, the irrigation of a meadow simply consists 
in causing a supply of water to pass over the grass at such 
periods as may be convenient ; the convenience being 
only loosely circumscribed by times and seasons. It does 
not matter if the soil becomes saturated with water, it is 
only by the grossest negligence or ignorance that injury 
pan be done. There is no danger, although the slope of 



EFFECTS OF COPIOUS IRRIGATION. 



the field may be considerable, of ^vasliing the soil, or cut- 
ting the surface into ruts or gullies. Watei may be turn- 
ed on to the sod without fear of excessive irrigation if it 
is only kept in motion. The more water that passes over 
the surface the more valuable nutriment is brought with- 
' in the reach of the plant. Every blade of grass acts as 
a part of a filter which retains matter that may be either 
in solution or in suspension in the water which slowly 
finds its way over the surface. The mechanical resistance 
offered by the myriads of stems and leaves of the grass 




Fig. 43.— IRRIGATIISG A BIVER BOTfOM. 

to a current of water are such that the combined effect is 
equal to a loss of head or level of 16 inches in 200 feet. 

This retardation of the flow helps to cause the deposit 
of any solid matter suspended in the water, from wdiich 
but few springs or streams are free, and also to bring 
every particle of the water into contact wdth the surface 
of the soil, or the surface roots of the plants. Not only, 
therefore, is the plant supplied with nutriment while the 
water is in contact with it, but a supply of nutriment is 
deposited and stored for future use. This freedom of 
application does not exist w^hen cultivated or plowed 
lands are irrigated, and in their case more care and greater 
caution must be exercised to avoid injury. It is there- 
fore advisable, in localities where only partial irrigation is 



100 IRRIGATION. 

needed, to cause these lands that are brought under the 
system, to bear grass in preference to any other crops, 
and to make the irrigation permanent and as perfect as 
possible. That is to say, that in all other than arid or 
rainless countries, meadows only, and no other field crops, 
should be irrigated, unless under exceptional circum- 
stances ; for the reason that the irrigation of a meadow 
is easy and requires but little practical skill, is more 
cheaply performed, because the works are permanent, 
and is more certain and profitable in its effects than that 
of other field crops. 

It would not be difficult to give excellent reasons for 
these statements. It may be sufficient, however, to re- 
mark that, excepting in those districts where irrigation is 
needed for all crops, the water supply can rarely be made 
available for any other lands than river bottoms ; for the 
reason that the cooperative effort of many proprietors 
would be necessary to bring a supply of water to a large 
tract, and this would be difficult or impossible to effect. 
Bottom lands are naturally suited to the growth of grass, 
and the means and the end of their irrigation match so 
accurately, naturally, and conveniently, that there seems 
to be a foregone necessity that the one should exist for 
the other. Further on, in considering more particularly 
the possibilities and methods of irrigating these lands, 
the advantages of keeping them as permanent grass lands 
will be still more conclusively shown if that need be. 

Where the climate admits of it, irrigation of meadows 
is performed in Summer and in Winter. There are two 
objects in view. One is, to supply moisture to the soil 
at a season when there is an insufficient amount of rain, 
and the other is, to convey to the soil, and deposit upon it, 
whatever fertilizing solid matter the water may contain at 
a season when water is very plentiful. The first object is 
attained by Summer irrigation, and the second by irriga- 
tion in Winter. It is only, however, in those localities 



WINTER IRRIGATION. 101 

where frosts are neither severe nor long continued that 
Winter irrigation is admissible. Where light frosts alter- 
nate with sunny days, a covering of a few inches of water, 
gently flowing across the meadows, protects as well as 
fertilizes the grass. At this season the copious rains or 
melting snows carry into the streams an immense amount 
of fine, earthy matter, which may be arrested and caused 
to be deposited in a thin sheet upon the soil. In the 
course of several years this deposit has been known to 
raise the surface of the meadow many inches, every inch 
of this increase consisting of matter of the greatest fer- 
tilizing value. AVhere Winter irrigations can be made, 
they will be found of the greatest value, for they prepare 
the crop which is to be cut in the Summer by supplying 
in a great measure the necessary subsistence for its growth. 
Wlicre the level of the field or the supply of water is 
such as to permit it, a constant current may be kept 
flowing over the surface during the period when growth 
is suspended, or from November or December until Febru- 
ary or March. 

Where it is necessary to make a series of levels to be 
irrigated in succession, each may in its turn be overflowed 
for a vreek ; or by arrangement of ditches and banks, the 
water from the upper level may pass over each lower one, 
supplying the whole, if it is in sufficient quantity. But 
where the supply of water is only limited, it is preferable 
to irrigate each level successively, for the reason that by 
far the largest quantity of suspended matter will be de- 
posited by the first of the waters made to flow .from one 
level to another, and in this case, the lower ones will receive 
a diminished quantity of deposit, in proportion to their 
distance from the source of supply. When the tempera- 
ture falls sufficiently for ice to form, tiie quantity of wa- 
ter should be increased so as to keep a current constantly 
flowing beneath the ice. If the cold is sufficient to con- 
geal the whole supply of water, so that ice rests upon the 



102 IRRIGATION. 

grass, tlie flow should be cut off. No injury will occur 
to the grass in this case, but if the water is still allowed 
to flow, the ice will be increased in thickness, and a longer 
time will be needed for it to thaw. If this imprisonment 
is continued too long, vegetation may be injured, but a 
week or two is insufficient to cause any injury. 

In the Spring, when the water has been withdrawn and 
growth has commenced, there frequently occur cloudless 
nights and low temperatures, when hoar frosts are pro- 
duced. On such occasions it is common to spread the 
water over the' surface during the night, as a protection 
from the frost. The benefit derived is sufficient to repay 
the necessary care and labor during the months when 
these sudden changes are to be expected. There are 
many localities in the Middle and Southern States where 
this sort of irrigation might be practiced with very great 
profit. It is extensively practiced in Lombardy, where 
these '' Winter meadows" are known as marcite, {marcita 
in the singular), and where they have long been known 
as the most productive of any meadows. As early as 
February, when the surrounding country may be yet 
covered with snow, these meadows, protected during the 
Winter by a covering of flowing vv^ater, begin to furnish 
their first cutting of grass. Five other cuttings follow, 
before the season closes, so that the cattle receive fresh 
grass during 11 months of the year. Twenty-eight tons 
of grass, or seven tons of hay, per acre, is the usual yield 
of these meadows. The valleys of several of the French, 
English, and Irish rivers, although subjected to a less 
genial climate than that of Italy, furnish many examples 
of successful Winter irrigations. Certainly a vast extent 
of the United States, where grass is a scarce product, 
might be made amenable to this profitable treatment. 

At this point a typical case might be cited. When 
yisiting England some years ago, the author's attention 
was attracted to some extensive water meadows upon the 



AN ENGLISH WATER MEADO\y. IQS 

banks of a small river, the Mersey, wliicli finds its exit 
into the sea at Liverpool. The uj^perpart of this stream 
flows through broad, alluvial lands, wliich, before their 
reclamation, must have been marshy, and of little value. 
Extensive works have been in existence, however, for 
many years ; precisely how long could not be ascertained 
by enquiry, all that could be learned was that ^^they 
were always there." The river banks were enclosed by 
dikes, or as they are termed on our Western rivers, 
^* levees," sufficiently high to prevent overflow, even in 
freshets. Substantial water-gates were made in these 
banks, leading into lateral channels at right angles to the 
river. These lateral channels had banks of equal hight 
and solidity with the main banks. The lateral banks 
extended from the river until they reached the gradually 
rising ground at their level. From these, other banks, 
enclosing lesser canals, with water gates at their heads, 
and parallel with the river, extended until they met the 
next range of cross banks ; thus dividing the broad bot- 
tom lands into a series of parallelograms enclosed in a 
system of canals at right angles to each other. From 
these canals, gates sliding in perpendicular grooves, and 
raised or depressed by racks and pinions, opened into the 
meadows. When the level of the river was raised by un- 
usual rains, the gates were opened, and the meadows en- 
closed within the different canals were flooded with water, 
to a depth of about six inches. So long as the river re- 
mained high, the gates were opened sufficiently to permit 
a gentle flow of water from one section of meadow to 
another, until it escaped into the river again at a lower 
level, by drains through the banks ; or the water remain- 
ed upon the meadows, in a state of quiescence, to deposit 
upon them the fertilizing matter which it held in suspen- 
sion. For centuries this practice had been followed, and 
the gra^s thus grown had been mowed and fed to cattle, 
or made into hay. The same practice was afterwards ob- 



104 IRRIGATIOX. 

served in other parts of England, Ireland, and in Conti- 
nental Europe, where scarcely a possibility of utilizing a 
stream in this manner hais been neglected. 

What is there in our circumstances that prevents the 
practice of so great an economy ? There is no reason why 
our thousands of rivers might not each have its scores of 
v/atered meadows, along its banks. The skill to execute 
the necessary work is abundant. Hundreds of civil en- 
gineers, relieved from duty upon the suspended or finish- 
ed railroads, might profitably turn their attention to this 
branch of their profession, if only farmers were alive to 
the advantages of thus improving their farms. 

The system adopted in Europe may be applied here 
with the greatest facility, but upon a much larger scale, 
as our rivers are larger, and our river bottoms more ex- 
tensive. The irregular and unrestricted, and therefore 
sometimes destructive overflows would thus be controlled 
and profitably utilized. The supply of grass, our most 
valuable fodder, would be greatly increased, and a needed 
improvement would be effected in our agriculture. 

In the Northern States and Canada, Winter irrigation 
is impracticable, and there Summer irrigation only would 
be beneficial. As soon as the ground is free from frost, 
the water of the streams, highly charged with sediment, 
might begin to be utilized. Afterwards, when growth has 
begun, no check would be permitted, but every night dur- 
ing a dry season, the meadoAv might be flooded. Then, 
when the crop, brought to an early maturity by the stimu- 
lus of abundant moisture should be cut and removed, a 
new growth would be forced, and nnder the influence of a 
genial sun, would advance quickly. Two crops could be 
made by August, and in many cases a third could be pro- 
cured by October. The economy of the system is suffici- 
ent to permit a considerable outlay in preparing the sur- 
face, and in addition there might be estimated a vast 
saving by the substitution of growing grass to be cut 



USE OP SPRINGS. 105 

and fed to cattle, for the present costly practice of pastur- 
ing. Nevertheless it is not necessary that pasturing be 
abandoned, for irrigation is as applicable, to a large ex- 
tent, to pastures as to meadows. 

The details of the methods here alluded to will be 
treated of in a succeeding chapter. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE USE OF SPRINGS FOR IRRIGATION. 

Springs are one of the sources from which water for 
irrigating meadows is most frequently procured. They 
are often situated advantageously, so that the water may 
be circulated by gravity over the land on a lower level. 
It is possible in many cases to reach the actual source of 
the spring at a point several feet above that at which it 
naturally issues from the ground. A vast number of 
springs really furnish a much larger supply of water 
than is suspected. Usually they are allowed to satu- 
rate the surface and escape into the subsoil by numerous 
hidden channels, which in the aggregate would fur- 
nish a respectable stream. By proper economy in using 
the water, a very small stream may be made to irrigate a 
field of considerable extent. It is by usiog water in drib- 
^ lets that many springs are wasted. A stream yielding one 
quart per second may have its water wholly swallowed by 
the thirsty soil within 200 feet of its source, when by ar- 
resting the flow and accumulating it in a reservoir, which 
may be discharged at intervals by automatic arrange- 
ments, the water may be made to escape in a volume 
four times as large, and sufficient to cover eight times 
the surface. 



106 IRRIGATION. 

By this contrivance a very small spring may be utilized. 
One yielding 2 quarts per second will serve to water four 
acres of meadow if stored for 24 hours, and discharged 
periodically at intervals of that length of time. During 
this period 43,200 gallons would be accumulated, which 
would supply nearly one quart of water to every square foot 
upon the four acres ; a very ample allowance in addition 
to what is furnished by the rainfall, to secure a full crop 
of grass. It would be preferable to accumulate a larger 
quantity of water than this, if possible, and to give a 
more copious watering less frequently. A thorough satu- 
ration of the soil at intervals, as has been before explained, 
is better than more moderate waterings more frequently 
given. Air is as vital a necessity to vegetation as water, 
and if access of air is denied, the roots of the plants 
must perish. Where water goes, air follows, and as evap- 
oration takes place, air fills the space previously occupied 
by the water. To moisten the soil to a depth of several 
inches gives that coolness which the grass roots find neces- 
sary for their healthful growth; but to moisten the soil to 
a depth of only an inch or two, gives no supply sufficient 
to resist the drying effects of the sun's heat, or a hot dry 
summer breeze. Two inches of water given every week 
would be a very good supply, and with a spring of the 
size of flow mentioned, economically stored, twelve acres 
of grass could be watered once a week. The effect would 
be equivalent to that of the fall of a steady, moderate 
shower during a whole day and night, and occurring every 
week, and every farmer can readily understand the value 
of such a shower upon his meadows. 

To store 43,200 gallons of water will require a reservoir 
of 5,760 cubic feet. One 40 by 20 feet, and 7 feet deep, 
will have about tliis capacity. If the width is doubled, 
the depth may be decreased one half. The shallower it 
it can bo made the bettor for many reasons. The temper- 
ature of sj)ring water is generally too low in the Summer 



RESERVOIRS. 10^ 

for immediate use, and its value is greatly enhanced by 
being raiced to an equal or greater temperature than that 
of the air. This is most quickly done by exposure in a 
shallow pond. Every foot saved in depth is a foot added 
to the level of the outlet, and so much more added to 
the area that may be irrigated. This is evident, because 
if the reservoir is 7 feet deep, the surface of the water 
can be no higher than the level of the source, unless the 
water is pumped up into the reservoir, and it is clear 
that the water discharged cannot be made to irrigate 
any land that lies higher than the bottom of the res- 
ervoir. With a 7 foot reservoir, all the land that lies 
between the levels of the bottom of the reservoir and the 
surface of the water cannot be irrigated ; unless there are 



several discharging pipes at different portions of the 
reservoir. With regard to cheapness of construction, if 
not to effectiveness in operation, it will be found far bet- 
ter to have the reservoir as large as possible, at least of 
suificient capacity to contain water enough for use every 
two to seven days. 

Where the surface slopes but one way, an embankment 
may be made on three sides of a square, inclosing a 
sufficient space, and open on the upper side at which the 
spring will discharge itself. This is shown at fig. 44 in 
section, and in plan at fig. 45. To irrigate the strip of 
land parallel with the reservoir, a canal or furrow may 
be carried on a level with the spring, seen at a, a, in the 
figures, to the boundary of the meadow. The overflow 
from the reservoir may be made to pass into this canal. 



108 



IKJRIGATION. 



This will be found a very convenient arrangement. 

Figures 44 and 45 are jnteixded to represent a typical 

fomi of such a reservoir as this. The spring, escaping by 

a small stream, seen in the plan, fig. 45, occupies the 




Fiji,-. 45. — PLAN OF KESEKVOIK. 

point a, in fig. 44. The ground around and below the 
spring is excavated as shown by the dotted line, (fig. 45), 
and by the part lightly shaded, marked c, in fig. 44. The 
earth removed serves to make the dam which is construct- 




Fig. 40. — TRAP FOR DISCHABGraG RESERVOIR. 

ed in the manner hereafter described. (Page 111). A pipe 
is laid in the dam, for convenience not far from the sur- 
face, and a valve, operated by a key, d, closes and opens 
vihe pipe. The pipe is in fact a siphon, and if opened 



DISCHARGING THE WATER. 109 

when the reservoir is full will discharge until the Avater is 
exhausted, into the distributing furrow, l, fig. 44, and h, 
I, fig. 45. The dotted line, in fig. 44, shows the level of 
the water in the reservoir when it is full and overflowing 
at the outlet, a. 

When the reservoir is filled, the surplus is discharged 
on each or either side, by the channels made for that pur- 
pose. This will obviate the difficulty previously pointed 
out. The flow may then be turned upon the upper por- 
tion of the meadow for twelve hours, in such a mrnner 
that the whole of the water shall be absorbed by the soil, 
and afterwards the contents of the reservoir may be flow- 
ed on to the lower portion during the next twelve hours, 
when the outlet will be closed. Many different arrange- 
ments for the use of the water may be devised to meet 
the necessities of any peculiar case, and as experience is 
gained, any difficulty that may arise at the first will be 
readily overcome. The reservoir may be discharged by 
an intermittent self-acting arrangement which is either a 
siphon, already described, or a more complicated but 
equally effective method of a balanced trap, fig. 46. The 
balanced trap consists of a board having a weight, H, at- 
tached to one end, and a cup or basin at the other, and 
being suspended upon pivots in a frame erected at the edge 
of the main distributing ditch at the outlet in front of 
the dam. The board is nicely balanced, so that when the 
basin is empty the weighted end rests upon a prop, i^, pur- 
posely placed for it ; but when the basin is filled with 
water it overbalances the weight and falls. As it falls it 
releases a gate, /, upon which is fixed a leather cushion 
which closes the outlet pipe of the reservoir, if. When 
the reservoir is empty the gate is raised and the pipe is 
closed. When the reservoir is filled the overflow enters a 
pipe through the upper part of the dam, C, and flows into 
the basin. The basin descends and releases the gate ; the 
force of the water flowing from the discharge pipe keeps 



110 IRRIGATION. 

it open as long as the stream is running into the canal. 
When the water is exhausted the pipe is again closed. 
To prevent the water flowing over the dam, through any 
accidental stoppage in the machinery, a branch of the 
overflow pipe is carried down the face of the dam into 
the canal. This apparatus is of very general use in the 
Swiss Cantons, and in irrigating works elsewhere, and 
works with regularity and precision. It is necessary that 
the balance-trap be properly adjusted and looked after 
occasionally. The worst that can happen in case of 
accident is the overflow of the reservoir by the pipe into 
the canal without harm. If the overflow is provided for 
at the inlet by a pipe or a channel placed there, as already 
suggested, this overflow pipe in the dam will not be 
needed. In practice, however, it will be found safest to 
have every guard against accident and consequent damage 
to the works, and two outlets will be twice as safe as one. 
If it is thought desirable, the waste-pipe in the dam may 
be placed two inches above the level of the other outlet, so 
that it will come into use only in case of a stoppage of 
the lower one. The outlet pipe should be large enough 
to discharge the water as least four times as rapidly as it 
enters the reservoir ; so that the storage of two days flow 
may be discharged in a night or during one cloudy day. 
(Under no circumstance sliould the water be permitted 
to escape during the day when the sun is shining). A 
three-inch pipe wdll discharge nine quarts per second, 
which would be more than enough to furnish two inches 
of water to four acres in 12 hours. A pipe of this di- 
ameter would therefore be of ample size for a 12-acre 
meadow, giving a weekly watering to each 4 acres by 
three discharges of the reservoir. 

A siphon is not always to be depended npon to dis- 
charfre a reservoir automatical! v. Sometimes the w^ater, 
when rising slowly and not filling the pipe completely^ 
trickles over and does not set the siphon in operation. 



MAKINCi THE DAAI. HI 

When an arrangement is made for the safe overflow of 
the surplus in some manner, a valve may be attached to 
the head of the siphon, {d, fig. 44,) by which the flow may 
be started, or a tap may be fixed to the lower end of the 
pipe for the same purpose. This would be preferable to 
the plain siphon, although it would involve the necessity 
of personal attendance at stated times to discharge the re- 
servoir. But no one should undertake the irrigation of land 
who is averse to giving the necessary attention to the de- 
tails at proper times. An unexpected accident, the work of 
vermin, the presence of some floating body, or some other 
trifle, may stop the work, and unless some oversight is 
given to it, mischief and loss might occur. It is there- 
fore advisable to depend upon personal effort rather than 
automatic contrivances, although it may be as well to 
have the latter in use if it is not made an excuse for 
neglecting careful supervision. Of all automatic arrange- 
ments for discharging the water, the balanced trap is 
the most trustworthy one. 

"Where the surface is not regularly sloping, a hollow or 
ravine may be made into a pond or reservoir by building 
a dam across the hollow. In building any dam of this 
character, the foundation must first be excavated until 
the solid subsoil is reached, or the dam will leak and its 
stability be destroyed. A trench at least a fourth of 
the width of the dam should be dug and filled with 
puddled earth or clay. The front and rear of tlie dam 
may be made of sods cut from the bottom of the reservoir, 
and the center up to the top should be made of earth or 
clay puddled and rammed sohdly between the walls of 
gods. The dam, if a high one, should be at least twice as * 
wide at the bottom as it is high ; and the width of the 
top should be one-fifth that of the bottom. The 
inner slope should be 18 inches horizontal to one foot 
of hight. The bottom of the pond should be made of 
puddled clay to prevent a waste of water. A section of 



112 



IRRIGATION. 



the dam is seen at fig. 44 ; tlie hight of wliich is 8 feet, 
widtli 16 feet, and the puddled clay wall in the center is 
shown by the darkly shaded portion. Where the spring 
is of sufficient volume to supply all the water that may 
be needed, it would still be worth while to provide the 
reservoir for the sake of gaining the increased tempera- 
ture ; but in such cases the reservoir will not be needed 
for the purpose of distribution, but only to warm the 




Fig. 47. — ^MANNER OF COLLECTING THE WATER OF SPRINGS. 

water. The overflow, then, only will be used, which 
will escape on the same level as that of the inlet. The 
course of the current through the reservoir should be 
made as circuitous as possible by means of a division 
of boards in the center, that the exposure of the cold 
water to the warm air or sun's heat may be the longer. 
When water is retained solely for this purpose, the space 
in which it is confined should be large and shallow, so 
that the exposure of the water to the sun's heat, and the 



USE OF sphings. 113 

influence of the atmosphere, may be as thorough as pos- 
sible. 

The temperature of the water has a considerable effect 
upon the growth of grass. Every one has noticed the 
eifect of a warm shower, in early Spring, in starting vege- 
tation ; and also the ill effect of a cold rain, in the Fall, in 
arresting growth. In all cases the water should at least 
be of an equal temperature with the air. When spring 
water is used, the temperature can only be raised by ex- 
posing it in ponds or reservoirs for a time, and the shal- 
lower the pond the more quickly will the water be warm- 
ed. Exposure to the atmosphere also exerts a chemical 
effect, and some waters that contain sulphate of iron, or 
other deleterious substances, are rendered harmless by 
the oxidation of these impurities. Thus the temporary 
storasre is of sufficient advantas^e both in enablinsr an in- 
termittent irrigation, and in warming and purifying the 
spring v/ater, to make the cost of the reservoir and dis- 
tributing apparatus a profitable expenditure for any 
meadow of not less than four acres in extent. 

It is often the case that a number of springs exist upon 
the surfuce that may be brought 
together into one channel with 
great economy. A spring is often 
merely the overflow of under- 
ground streams, and by digging 
downwards the whole of the water 
may be captured and brought into 
one channel, with the double ad- Fig. 48. -the dratn and 
vantage of draining a wet field discharge pipe. 

and of utilizing the water for the irrigation of a meadow 
below the level of it. The diagram, fig. 47, represents 
a case of this character. A number of springs break out 
at the surface, and spreading make a marsh, but form 
no stream there. To utilize the water of these springs, 
and to drain the wet surface, all that is needed is to 




114 



IRRIGATION. 



cut a drain (see fig. 48) from each of them, leading to a 
common channel, and deep enough to reach the subterra- 
nean sources from whence the overflow comes. The main 
channel is made to discharge at a point 
required either into a cistern or into an 
irrigating ditch. The method of mak- 
ing the drains need not be costly. If 
stone is at hand, and flat long pieces 
can be easily procured, the drains may 
be made by placing long narrow stones 
against the sides of the ditch, at the bot- 
tom, and covering them with shorter 
pieces placed crosswise. Small fragments 
may be thrown upon these and earth up- 
Fig-. 49. Qj^ them. This is shown at fig. 49. If 

FLAT STONE DRAIN. ^.^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ prOCUrcd, thC 

drain may be made as shown in figs. 50 and 51. The 
depth of the drain, should not be more than is neces- 
sary to reach the main stream, as for every foot deeper 
than that, so much head at the outlet is lost, and so much 
less land can be watered. In digging the drains, for the 






Fig. 50. ROTTND STONE DRAINS, Fig, 51. 

same reason, no greater fall should be given than is need- 
ed. Six inches in 100 feet is ample fall to keep the drains 
clear from sediment, and more would probably result in 
washing out portions of tlie drains at the sides or bot- 
toms. A very useful level for laying out the drains may 



LEVELING THE DRAINS. 



115 



be made as shown at fig. 52. It consists of a parallel- 
edged board, seven or eight feet long, with a ± affixed 
near one end, which supports a pendulum. A scale is 
marked on the board at the foot of the pendulum, where- 
by its motions are noted. When the board is perfectly 
level the foot of the pendulum marks 0. When the board 
inclines either way it varies accordingly. A handle is 
fixed to the end of the level, which serves to hold it in 
position when in use. In case it is not wished to lay out 

iirfli 




Fig. 5.3.— LEVEL. 

the bottom of a ditch to a very accurate grade, the mere 
movement of the pendulum to the right, when looking at 
the scale or index, will show that the grade is downwards. 
But if accurate measurement is desired, it will be neces- 
sary to make the instrument in proportion, and mark the 
index carefully also with a proportionate scale. Thus, if 
the bottom of the level is six feet long, and the JL two 
feet high, an elevation of the hinder end of the instru- 
ment of half an inch would be equal to a grade of one 
inch in 12 feet, or one in 144, or eight inches in 100 feet, 
and would cause a deviation from the perpendicular of 
the pendulum of one-sixth of an inch ; a grade of IG 
inches in 100 feet would cause a deviation of one-third 
of an inch. If such close measurement is desired, the 
instrument will have to be carefully made. For ordinary 
operations, it will only be necessary to take care that the 
J. is set on quite square, and then the least movement 



116 



IliUlGATION. 



forward of the pondiilnm will show the grade to be correct. 
AVhen the waters of springs, such iis are uow under 
consideration, are to be used directly in irrigation, the 
method shown at lig. 53 may be applied. The springs c*?, 
s, Sy may be opened or cleared of rubbish, and may be led 
directly into furrows following the lines of level shown by 
the dotted lines. Or they may be led into the larger 
springs and the collected water be discharged as shown 
at S, jS. Or several springs near the center may be 




Fig-. 5 ). — DlllECT USE OF SPRINGS. 

gathered into a pool or reservoir, and the others led into 
it, and the whole supply be discharged into a main fur- 
row following the level as seen at fig. 54, in which the 
springs are seen at s, s, the reservoir at E, and the irri- 
gating channels at c, c, c. 

By this management the drainage of wet, arable lands, 
also may be made to furnish a supply of water to irrigate 
meadows, and the instances where such a combination of 
advantages may be availed of are far from scarce or few. 
Indeed the swamps that now produce very inferior herbage, 



DOrnM-: I-HOFIT I\ DliAIXAOE, 



117 



or that are totally uisoIghh, or worse, because productive of 
miaHina, or dangerous to cattle that may trespaHs upon 
them, and that might be reclaimed by drainage, and at tlje 
same time furnish a copious supply of water for irrigation, 
are far more numerous than would be suspected by any but 
an engineer, wliose practiced eye can see at a glance the 
possibilities in this respect that others would fail to per- 
ceive. It nine cases out of ten, at least, a swamp is in 
reality a sjjring, or a number of tljcm, which spread 




Fig. 54. — THE 8PKINGS COLLECTED I5TO A POOL. 

themselves over the surface and stagnate, losing their 
flow by evaporation or slow filtration through the sur- 
rounding soil, or their own subsoil. To utilize this waste 
water would be to turn a diseased and pestilential spot 
into a healthful and productive field, that would also con- 
tribute the means of enhancing the productive capacity 
of neighboring fields. Then '' out of the eater cometh 
forth meat," and out of the wast€ place cometh forth fer- 
tilitv. 



118 IRRIGATION-. 

CHAPTER XII. 

FOHMATION OF WATER MEADOWS. 

Every American farmer will acknowledge that grass is 
tl.e most desirable, but at the same time the most difficult 
crop he can raise. It costs less to raise than any other crop 
when the adverse climate can be vanquished. But fortu- 
nately the American climate it not invincible, and there 
lire means by which this crop, (as well as others), may be 
cultivated with success, in spite of heat and drouths. One 
of these is the system of irrigated, or water meadows, 
upon which the growth of grass can be made continuous 
during both Summer and Winter, for where the climate 
is not sufficiently cold to form ice more than two inches 
in tliickness, grass may bo kept in a growing state through- 
out the Winter, and be made ready for the first cutting 
in February or March. The United States is the only 
civilized country in which grass is not so grown, more or 
less. There is scarcely a river in Europe wdiose waters 
are not compelled to nourish and protect thousands of 
acres of its bottom lands wherever they can be brought 
upon them by means of embankments and ditches. On 
every hand the observant traveler sees irrigation works of 
extensive and substantial character, and of great an- 
tiquity ; and verdant meadows within them, covered with 
the most luxuriant vegetation. These works are to be 
found where the climate is naturally as unfavorable to 
the growth of grass as in any of our Southern States, al- 
though it is true that in warm, humid climates, or those 
where the heats of Summer are not so ardent, water 
meadows find their greatest developement. The small 
county of Wiltshire, in England, alone has 20,000 acres 
of water meadows, most of which have been in cultiva- 
tion for over 150 years. This county is a famed dairy 



ADVANTAGE OP AVIXTEIi IIir.KiATION. 119 

county, and the Wiltshire cheese is a staple prodvict in 
the markets of the country. 

But it is drouth, and not heat alone, that is fatal to 
the growth of grass, and which sears it as the breath of 
a furnace. Heat and moisture develop vegetable growth 
most abundantly. Without declaring that irrigation is 
to revolutionize our hu^^bandry, it is only necessary to 
refer to the abundant opportunities which exist here for 
enterprise in this direction, to be assured that a vast 
change for the better would occur if it were brought into 
general use. It is a mistake to suppose that an irrigated 
meadow depends solely upon the use of water during 
the Summer months. On the contrary, wherever it is 
possible to be done, it is by application of water during 
the Winter season, or from the Autumn to the Spring, 
that the crop gains an accumulation of strsngth which 
enables it to pass through the Summer in safety, gi^^ng 
several crops in that season. Not that Summer irrigations 
are not useful or necessary, but that they are of less vol- 
ume and of less continuance. 

The chief advantage of this system is the accumulation 
of fertility made during a period when otherwise the 
ground is wasted by rains, and denuded of sail and soluble 
matter that it is not in a condition to spare. The meadow 
is made the place of deposit for a large portion of the 
matter of which other lands, not so improved, are de. 
prived by rains and floods, and if the whole of the w^aters 
of the streams could be arrested and made to give up 
their burden, the whole of the value lost by them would 
bs regained, and none escape to the seaor the estuaries of 
the rivers to form future lands of the .richest character. 
The opportunities for producing grass upon Avatcr mead- 
ows in the Southern States, where Winter irrigation is 
possible, and where the river flats are extensive and nu- 
merous, are many and great, and the advantages in this 
direction are too important to be neglected. 



120 IRRIGATION. 

The nature of the herbage upon an irrigated meadow- 
depends greatly upon the skill with which the irrigation 
is managed. If water is Used in excess, the more valuable 
grasses disappear and inferior ones take their place, such 
as quack grass {Triticum repe7is), the spear grasses (Gly- 
ceria aqiiatlca), and G. fluitcms and other coarse species. 
By careful management, re-seeding, and manuring, timo- 
thy and clover may be retained in a watered meadow, but 
there are several grasses which are but slightly inferior to 
timothy, and which grow abundantly and constantly, that 
are much better adapted to this culture. These are the 
fowl meadow grass (Foa serotina), rough-stalked meadow 
grass {Poa trivialis), the tall meadow oat-grass, called 
ray grass in France, {Arrenatheru7n aveiiaceum), and the 
well-known red-top (Agrostis vulgaris). 

These grasses furnish a heavy burden of sweet, nutri- 
tious, palatable hay, and immediately after mowing, 
when watered, spring into a vigorous new growth. Italian 
rye-grass {Lolium Italicum), is extensively grown upon 
irrigated meadows in England, and yields repeated heavy 
cuttings of forage for soiling. It has been tried here 
without success, but not on irrigated lands. It is probable 
that under irrigation it will be found of equal value to 
other grasses that have already been naturalized, and are 
known to be available, as it is the chief grass grown upon 
the Italian water meadows, upon which it yields several 
cuttings, equal in the aggregate to 80 or 40 tons of green 
fodder per acre yearly. A mixture of five to seven pounds 
each of the four varieties named, as best adapted to water- 
ed meadows, would give a thick growth, and as some of 
them increase from the roots, a thick permanent sod 
would be formed, which would be in active and successive 
growth up to October, or even later in.the season. 

The undulating character of the surface of the soil 
offers the greatest facilities for using the waters from 
streams, both small and great, in irrigation. There are 



MODES OF APPLYING WATER. 121 

millions of acres upon tlie banks of streams that could 
be made to bear crops of grass permanently, with the 
greatest profit, at a comparatively small outlay per acre. 
It is where the surface to be irrigated is large that the 
process of irrigation is the cheapest. Where a stream 
flows naturally above the surface of a portion of the 
neighboring land, the cost of irrigating the land will be 
very small, and tlie cost per acre Avill be the minimum 
when the supply of water is abundant and the area to be 
watered is large. In this case no dam will be needed, or 
at most such a one as can be made at a small expense and 
maintained with little trouble. A simple barrier of stones, 
or a few planks, or a log laid across the stream and held 
in its place by a few stakes driven in the ground, w^ill suf- 
fice to divert the flow into a canal, which will lead the 
water with the least possible loss of level to the ground 
to be irrigated'.. A narrow valley having a stream mean- 
dering through its center, and witli sides gently sloping 
toward the stream, i« peculiarly well adapted for irrigation. 
The whole length of the valley, from its head to its out- 
let, may be made a succession of meadows. The small 
tributary streams of the valley will be made to aid in the 
work and contribute their share to the general supply of 
water. 

Should the streams be subject to early Spring and late 
Fall freshets, so much the more valuable they will be. 
Every flood will bring down a large amount of solid matter 
to be deposited as a fertilizer upon the soil. The water of 
floods is also highly charged with soluble matters which 
are rendered up to the soil through which it is made to 
percolate. The only disadvantage is, that should a flood 
occur when the grass is nearly ready for cutting, a con- 
siderable quantity of sand may be deposited upon it, and 
much of the crop may be lodged. But this difficulty is 
unavoidable, and would occur in any case, and must be 
submitted to as one of the drawbacks incident to the 

g 



1*22 IRRIGATION. 

process of doubling or trebling the usual amount of the 
crop. 

The first business to be undertaken in forming such a 
meadow is to thoroughly drain the land either by under- 
drains or by open drains. The most important drain will 
be that which cuts oH all the springs which issue from 
the foot of the uplands, and which generally render the 
low land a sodden marsh. Frecpieutly this drain should 
be dug to the depth of six feet, that every spring that 
may issue below ma}' be intercepted and tapped. Tliis 
drain should be cut above the highest level to w^hich tl.c 
irrigating ditch can be carried, and may discharge into it 
or be carried beneath it and made to issue in the lateral 
drains. Next, the surface is to be leveled, the hillocks 
cut down and the hollows filled, so that no stagnant wa- 
ter can be retained in them, and the lateral slope of the 
meadow be made perfect up to the edge of the stream. 
The stream, or so much of it as can be used, is then di- 
verted into side channels, which are carried as nearly upon 
a level as possible until they reach the foot of the upland, 
when they are carried still upon a level or with a slope of 
not more than one foot in a thousand, in a direction paral- 
lel with the general course of the valley, but yet follow- 
ing the w^inding made necessary by the configuration of 
the surface. The general arrangement of the dam, canals, 
and drains, is as follows : see fig. 55. The winding stream 
wdiich occupies the center of the valley, shown by the 
dotted lines is straightened, and dammed at a ; the lat- 
eral canals are carried each way from the dam to the 
borders of the valley, and from them a regular system of 
distributing canals is supplied. The main cross drains, 
d, 1), are above the canals on either side, and the drains, 
sliown by the dotted lines, are carried directly to the 
stream, or they may be made to discharge into the water 
furrows if so desired. The level of the stream may be 
raised by embanking its sides for a sufficient distance, i:i- 



A VALLEY MEADOW. 



123 



stead of building a dam across it and forming a pond. 
But the value of a pond upon a farm, if for no other 
purpose than procuring a supply of ice, would amply 
repay the value of the land and labor in one year. The 




Fi^. 55.— IRRIGATION OF A VALLEY. 

arrangement of canals here described is a typical one for 
this kind of meadows ; it is capable, however, of abund- 
ant modifications, to suit var3ring circumstances. It is 
given to illustrate the principle upon which these meadows 
may be formed. 

There are various other methods of raising the water 
than this which has been described, some of which may 
be mentioned as being applicable to various circumstances. 
The old-fashioned noria, which has been in use in South- 
ern and Central Europe since the eleventh century, is not 
yet out of date. It is still used in Savoy, Lombardy, 
Spain, and parts of France, and being easily constructed, 
and cheaply effective, where the supply of water is suffi- 
cient, might be used in some cases here. Awheel, having 
broad floats, is hung upon an axle, so that the lower floats 



124 



lERIGATIOX. 



are submerged in the stream, fig. 5G. Byo^ering a little 
obstruction to the stream, to increase the rapidity of the 
current where the natural velocity is not sufficient, the 
wheel is set in motion and revolved. Water buckets are 
fixed to the circumference of the wheel, in such a position 
that the direction of their longitudinal axle is 45 degrees 
from that of the axle of the wheel. The buckets are 




Fig. 56.— THE "NOBIA" OR WATER WHEEL. 

partly filled as they pass through the water, and are dis- 
cliarged as the wheel brings them round to an inverted 
position, into a wooden trough placed alongside of the 
wheel. From this trough the water is conveyed to the 
distributing channels. Water may be raised by this rough 
and ready process, in the cheapest manner, to a hight of 
ten or twelve feet, requiring no attention and working 
by day and night so long as the stream flows. Another 
method by which a small portion of the water may be 
raised is applicable to brooks of moderately small volume, 



1 



A WATER MEADOW. 125 

as well as larger streams, viz., the use of a water-wheel. 
Where the stream cannot be raised conveniently, an un- 
dershot wheel may be set in motion by turning the cur- 
rent into a wooden trough or shute, and impelling it 
ao-ainst the floats of the wheel. Where a dam can be 
made, an overshot wheel may be used. Either of these 
wheels may be made to operate a chain pump, and raise a 
considerable amount of water. This pump is preferable 
to any other, as there are no valves to be choked by small 
floating substances, or to be worn by sand, which may be 
brought down by the stream. Wooden pins may be in- 
serted around the rim of the wheel, from which a wooden 
pinion or gear may convey the motion by a short shaft to 
the pump. 

The most economical form of meadow is the ^^ water 
meadow," which is one so arranged that it can be flooded 
completely to a depth of several inches, and the water can 
either be retained upon the surface when desired, cr made 
to pass over it with a slow, steady current. These are 
the meadows which in parts of Europe are so productive of 
grass, being protected during the winter from the slight 
frosts or snow which would stop the growth of the herb- 
age, by a covering of water. Where the land cannot thus 
be completely covered, meadows cannot be irrigated in 
the winter season, in climates subjected to frosts sufficient- 
ly severe to freeze the ground an inch in depth. The too 
well known destructive effects of a frost upon a sod 
saturated with water, entirely forbid Winter irrigation 
in the I^orthern States. But in the Southern States, 
where frosts do not continue more than a few days at a 
time, the '^ water meadow " may be made a valuable ad- 
dition to the farm, and supply such an increased amount 
of fodder for stock as may easily change the system of 
farming to a very considerable extent. 

In forming w^ater meadows no dams are used, nor is any 
water raised above its level. The streams are embanked 



123 



IRllIGATION. 



SO as to confine the water which is diverted from them 
and is carried in a level channel which gradually diverges 
more and more from the stream, until the whole of the 
land to be brought under treatment is inclosed. As the 
level of the surface slowly descends, that of the canal 




Fig. 57. — SECTIONAL PLAN OF WATER MEADOW. 

rises gradually above it until there is a difference of at 
least a foot between the levels of the water and the ground, 
at the upper portion of the meadow. The more regular 
the slope of the meadow the better in every way. If a 
perfectly smooth surface can be made, the meadow is 
then a perfect one. A perfectly formed meadow is the 
one that lies in a succession of smooth, gently sloping 




58.— GROUND PLAN OP MEADOW. 

tables, each one one or two feet, or more, below the level 
of the other. A meadow so prepared will show a section 
similar to that in fig. 57, in which the irrigating canals 
are seen at e, e, and the collecting drains at/, /. Spouts 
in the banks, at a, a, may pass the water from one level 
to another. (See also page 113.) 



WATER-GATES. 



127 



Each iDortion of the meadow will be confined between 
banks upon the sides, one of which will be upon the edge 
of the river, and the other upon the opposite boundary, 
which is the main supply canal, and between a canal of 
distribution at the head and an open drain at the foot. 




Fig. 59. — SELF-ACTING WATER GATE. 

This is shown in fig. 58, in which a, a, is the river; h, h, 
the river bank; c, c, the opposite bank; d, d, the sujoply 
canal; e, e, the distributing canal; and /, /, the drain. 
The drain discharges into the river through the bank by 
a self-acting gate, (fig. 59,) which yields to the outflow, 
but is closed by an inflow from the river. Or the sur- 
plus water from the upper level may be discharged into 
the distributing canal of the next lower level. The water 
is passed from the supply canals to those of distribution, 
either by a gate raised by a winch and pinion and rack, 
fig. 60, or a spout through the bank of the canal, which 
is closed by a sHde, seen in fig. 61, and at a, a, in fig. 58. 

D 




Fiff. 60. — WATER GATE. 



The water from the canal is first turned upon the upper 
level ; when this is covered to a proper depth the gate is 
closed, and the water turned through the next gate upon 



128 lEEIGATION. 

the next level, and so on until all are covered. A sufScient 
quantity of water is allowed to pass on to each level to 
maintain the j^ropcr depth, and allow a gentle current to 
flow from the drains. This is important when the tem- 
perature falls below the freezing point. Observations 
have been made, which have shown that when this has 
occurred, and the temperature of the air has been as low 





Fig. 61.— SPOUT rN the bank. 

as 26°, that of the grass beneath the ice has been no 
lower than 42°, and that vegetation was still active, as 
shown by the color of the verdure. 

As regards the amount of water used, and the manner 
of using it, the following experiences may be cited. 

A comparison of fields that have been less abundantly 
watered, with those that have received a copious supply, 
has shown that the crops upon the latter have been in- 
fallibly increased. 

AVhere during one Winter the irrigation has been sus- 
pended, the succeeding crop has been little or nothing. 

Where the water that has passed over a field has been 
floAved upon another, the crop of the latter has been very 
inferior to that of the former, showing conclusively that 
the earth had completely abstracted the fertilizing proper- 
ty of the water in its first contact with it. 

In proportion to the abundance of water supiDlied dur- 
ing the Winter, so is the yield of grass in the Summer. 
In short, facts are conclusive to show that the quantity 
of water that can be used, is the gauge of the harvest to be 
expected. The Winter irrigation supplies the fertility, that 
of the Summer simply supplies the necessary moisture. 
In this respect the action of water constantly passing in a 



SOME SETTLED PRINCIPLES. 129 

thin sheet over a grassy sod has a different effect from that 
of water passing over uncultivated soil. It does not wash 
the soil nor carry off' soluble matter from it, but it is it- 
self filtered of whatever matter it contains that can be 
appropriated by the roots of the grass. 

The width of the levels that may be irrigated is veiy 
irregular, and depending greatly upon the character of the 
surface. The larger the breadth the cheaper the process 
of preparing the surface, because the expense of forming 
the embankments, canals, sluices, and drains, is divided 
over a larger number of acres, and the cost per acre is 
diminished. It is cheaper to enclose a large area — 100 
acres for instance — although the Avorks maybe heavier and 
more costly, than a smaller one of 10 acres with much 
lighter works. In laying out water meadows, tbis con- 
sideration should not be neglected, and the largest area 
possible should be enclosed. Some of the dikes enclosing 
the English and Italian water meadows are not less than 
20 feet in hight, but hundreds of acres are brought under 
irrigation by them. In such cases the works are massive, 
costly, and built to last for ages. Smaller meadows may 
not require embankments of more than one to three feet 
in hight, and the earth for these may be procured from 
the drains which carry off the surplus water, and which 
are necessarily of ample size. In making the banks it 
will be found the cheapest plan to dig the drains large 
enough to supply all the earth needed for the banks ; the 
extra ground used will be of very little importance com- 
pared with the expense of bringing earth from a distance 
for the construction of the banks. 

A water meadow, or at least each section of a meadow 
in one enclosure, must necessarily be carefully leveled. 
The most perfect meadow is one that has a perfectly level 
surface between the banks, so that it can be covered even- 
ly with six inches of water. The water may be flowed 
over the surface of a meadow of this character, and kept 



130 IRKIGATIOX. 

upon it, if desired, by closing the outlet at the foot ; or 
the outlet may be opened only so much as to allow a 
gentle current to pass over the meadow and maintaining 
the water at its stated deptli. Upon level meadows less 
water may be used than upon meadows having consider- 
able slope. The more water that can be made to pass 
over the grass, the better, up to the point of the satura- 
tion of the soil. The quantity of water that may be used 
depends upon the inclination of the surface and the qual- 
ity of the soil. 

Where the surface is perfectly level, and of a clayey 
character, the minimum quantity of water can be used. 
When the surface slopes so as to reach the extreme in- 
clination practicable for these meadows, and the soil is 
gravelly, sandy, and porous, with a porous subsoil, then 
the maximum quantity of water can be used. 

An instance is stated by M. Herve Mangon, in his work 
already referred to, of the irrigation of meadows in the 
valleys of the Vosges, Eastern France, in which water is 
employed to such an extraordinary extent that the total 
quantity used in a year would cover the soil to a depth of 
thirteen hundred feet. In another case the quantity of 
water used between the end of November and the middle 
of August following, was equal to a total depth of 27 feet.- 
The whole of this time was divided into eight periods of 
watering. But the locality in which these extreme cases 
occurred, is one where the meadows are rarely level, and 
have generally an extreme inclination ; the soil is gravelly, 
being derived from the schistose rocks of the surrounding 
hills, and is very porous and loose in texture, and the 
water of the streams is highly charged with sediment and 
soluble matter, from the decomposed rocks. At least 
such is tlie case in the valley of W^aldersbach, a locality 
much visited by travelers on account of its connection 
with the history of the renowned Father Oberlin, and 
whor3 the author has seen the grassy hill sides flowed 



SLOPING SFEFACES. 131 

with sheets of water almost approaching the character of 
cascades, and the level meadows appearing as lakes. 

It is by the use of the most liberal supply of water, 
when the conditions! are favoral^le, that we can cause to 
pass over a given surface, the greater quantity of nitrogen, 
phosphates, and other valuable matters, contained in the 
water and needed by the soil. Irrigation of meadows is 
thus seen to be by no means a simple drenching of the 
soil by stagnant water ; but, on the contrary, the bringing 
into active contact with the soil of the largest possible 
quantity of water surcharged with fertilizing gases, salts, 
and organic matter. 

When the surface slopes, the arrangements of ditches 
and drains should be made to suit the slope. If the slope 
is in only one direction, the water can readily be made to 
flow down the slope from the head to the foot by a system 
of gates from the canal which passes along the upper 
part of the meadow. Afc the foot the water passes into 
a drain and escapes into the stream, or it is carried from 
the drain beneath the dividing bank into the next section, 
and made to flow over the surface of that, as it has al- 
ready done over that of the previous section. Where the 
slope is not more than one foot in 100, a considerable 
depth of water may be maintained upon the surface, as 
the flow is greatly retarded by the grass. Where the 
slope is greater than this, the construction of a water 
meadow must be abandoned, but a modification of it may 
be used, and a meadow upon which a current of water 
may be flowed from head to foot without any series of 
water furrows, may be made and laid out upon the general 
plan of the true water meadow. But to flood the surface 
in case of frost would be impossible or injurious, because 
of the great depth of water that would be required, and 
Winter irrigation would be either injurious or full of risk. 
So long as the slope does not much exceed 1 in 100, the 
meadow may be laid out as a water meadow, if other cir- 



132 lEEIGATION. 

cumstances favor it ; (such as a location upon a stream 
where there is sufficient fall, to avoid heavy embankiug, 
which however is a rare occurrence) ; but when the slope 
exceeds that ratio another system must be adopted. Be- 
sides the systems of water meadows, previously described, 
there are other methods of irrigating grass lands which 
will be explained hereafter. 

The time of continuance and intervals of irrigation of 
these meadows is of importance. There is always danger 
that, by reason of a rise of temperature, vegetation may 
be unduly stimulated. In such a case the water, only in- 
sufficiently charged with oxygen, cannot supply the de- 
mands of the plants, and they are destroyed unless the 
water is withdrawn and air supplied, or the temperature 
lowered by exposure until the stimulus is removed. An 
interval of a few days is then to be given before the water 
is again turned on. An irrigation of 10 or 15 days and 
an interval of five is the general practice. Whenever 
practicable, a meadow m.ay be divided into three or four 
portions in the manner before described. Then, in the 
first case, t)y flooding two of the divisions, and at the end 
of five days drawing off the water from the first and turn- 
ing it upon the third, and after five days more drying the 
second and flooding the first, and so on continuing, each 
division would be ten days under water and five days dry. 
In the second case, if three are under water in succession 
and one dry, each will be 15 days irrrigated and dry for 
five days. It is impossible to give directions in each case; 
the experience of the operator must be his guide, and the 
beginner must exercise caution, learn to know wlien he is 
right, and then go ahead. A reference to the principles 
upon which irrigation depends for its good effects, and 
the circumstances which would make it injurious, must 
be carefully made whenever there is doubt in the mind of 
the operator. The general rule already stated, that it is 
much more common, and easy, to err upon the side of 



MEADOWS AND PASTUKES. 133 

excess, than on the contrary, may be remembered as a 
caution and safeguard. Still there is less danger from 
excess in irrigating grass than any other crop. 

It mi^^ht be well to explain at this point that the ar- 
rangement here described for making water meadows is 
exactly appHcable to cranberry plantations which require 
to be flooded. In many cases the slope of such planta- 
tions is too great, and consequently there is either an in- 
jurious depth of water flowed upon the vines, or the water 
is not in sufficient supply to permit the covering of the 
upper portion of the field, and the expense of making 
the necessary high banks is too onerous. By laying out 
the meadow as is shown in profile at fig. 57, and in plan 
at fig. 58, each plot can be flooded to a moderate and 
sufficient depth with the expenditure of a minimum 
quantity of water. The cost of making several low 
banks and smaller drains is not more than that of mak- 
ing one high bank and wide deep drain, and the crop is 
not injured by an excessive depth of water. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IRRIGATION OF MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 

While the irrigation of grass land, situated in a river 
bottom, and having either a level surface or one with 
but very Httle slope, as has been described in the previous 
chapter, is an easy matter, and when the supply of water 
is ample is the most effective method of making a water 
meadow, yet the proportion of farms possessing the re- 
quisite facilities for a water meadow is comparatively 
small. Where therefore, there is but a small supply of 
water and no broad level space of ground, the meadow 



134 IKEIGATION. 

must bo made in some other manner than that previously 
described. But in all cases, whatover may be tlie charac- 
ter of the surface, when there is a supply of Avater flow- 
ing above the level of the ground to be watered, an irri- 
gated meadow may be made. It may be a level piece of 
land, or a piece sloping in one or two directious, or an 
irregular surface haviug meandering slopes, or a hill side 
so steep that wagons cannot be used upon it, any of these 
may be brought under irrigation, if there is the requisite 
supply of water. 

In preparing meadows for irrigation, the first consider- 
ation is the selection of the ground. In this is included 
the supply of water. It may be that the area that can 
be covered by the water is too small to return a fair profit 
on the venture, or the supply of water may be too small 
for the area upon which it is to be spread. Close calcu- 
lations should therefore be made, the supply closely meas- 
ured and the needs accurately estimated. The first cost- 
of preparing the surface being almost the whole expense 
to be incurred and this being less in proportion as the 
area increases, it is a measure of economy to spread the 
water over as much space as possible. If the water is 
sufficient to flow one acre in one day, by dividing the land 
into twelve plots and irrigating one each day in suc- 
cession, the whole may be brought under the improve- 
ment. 

Upon level lands or those which have but little 
slope, and that in only one direction, the preparation of 
the surface is very easy and simple. In this case the ir- 
ri2:ation will be by narrow channels, or ditches sodded or 
sown ov'cr with grass which will offer no obstacle to the 
mower when the crop is cut. The form of the distribut- 
ing ditches will be of a very obtuse angle, or a light de- 
pression of the surface sufficient to confine the current 
of water which will flow over its edge or edges, and 
spread in a thin sheet over the surface; slowly sinking in- 



PLAN OP^ MEADOW. 



135 



to the ground or finding its wiiy into the drain, either 
by pereolation through the soil or by surface flow at the 
foot of the field or plot. The form of the furrow is seen 
at fig. OPi. It may be two feet wide and four inches deep. 
As there is no loss of crop in this case, the space occupied 
by these furrows is of no consideration ; the wider and 



Fiji;. O'i. — I oit.M or wATi:it itkuow. 

shallower they are, however, the more jKjrmancnt they 
will be, and the less subject to injury by trampling, should 
the meadow ever be pastured. The arrangement of the 
meadow would then be a main supply-canal, so located 
that the water may be diverted from it to supply any of 
the subordinate feeders in turn by means of the distribut- 

a y — \r^^^~'^^ ^ 

I 




insr canals. 



f, c (y 

Y\rr, 63.— PLAN OF IRRIGATED MEADOW. 

See fi^. 63 ; a, a, being the main canal ; h, h, 
distributing canals; c,c, drains. The flow may be di- 
verted bv means of the hand-gates already described, or 
by placing obstructions in the main canal, such as bricks 
or sods, as shown in fig. 64. , 

Wh^re there is an inclination of the surface insufficient 
to amount to what would be called a slope, a somewhat 



136 



IRi:iGATIOX, 



different arrangement would be required. See fig. 65. 
The water would be taken from the supply canals and 
diverted into a feeder to be carried in a diagonal direction 
across the plot, from which the distributing furrows 



JL 



^^^^ 



^ 11 

Fig. 64. — DIVERTING THE FLOW. 

would be carried. The overflow from the distributing 
furrows would even spread over the ground down the in- 
clination. The triangular spaces below the junction of 
the distributing furrows with the feeders, are watered by 
means of small reflex furrows, which gather some of the 
overflow from the distributing furrows and carry it back 
toward the feeder. 

This system of irrigated meadows is applicable to 
numerous and varied circumstances. It may be adopted 
in cases where the surface is level, or where the inclina- 




Fig. 65. — FOBM OF FUKEOW FOR AN INCLINED FIELD. 

tion is slight but regular, and where the supply of water 
is not sufficient to permit of flooding or may be in mini- 
mum quantity. It may also be adopted in those cases 
where the surface is a plane of which the slope is moder- 
ate in one direction, so that the distributing furrows may 
be carried on a level, and in a nearly straight direction ; 
or upon nearly all surfaces which will admit the use of a 
mowing machine. It is particularly adapted to many 



INCLINED SURFACES. 137 

cases where the land in river bottoms has been injured by 
the washing of freshets, and a bare surface of sand or 
gravel has been left, upon which grass cannot now be 
grown because of the absence of soil. This last case, 
however, would more properly come under another head, 
and will be treated in the proper place hereafter. 

In preparing the surface of an irrigated meadow, the 
ground should be plowed without open or back furrows. 
There may be exceptions to this rule, where the ground 
is to be laid out in plots for successive irrigation, or where 
the surface is a dead level. In the former case, the 
ground may be plowed in broad flat lands, each land 
forming one plot, of which the open furrow will be the 
center, and the feeder for the distributing furrows. In 
the latter case the ground will be plowed in narrower 
lands, with a rise from side to center of not less than 6 
inches to 100 feet ; the back furrow or the ridge will be 
the place for the distributing canal, and the open furrow 
will be the drain. This will in fact be an extended ap- 
plication of the system of beds heretofore described as 
applied to gardens. The best implement for this work is 
the swivel plow, with v/hicb the furrows may be all laid 
the same way over the whole field. The plowing is to be 
carefully and evenly done, and as deeply as possible. No 
'^ balks" must be made, the furrows must be straight, 
and no trash, weeds, or coarse manure, are to be plowed 
under, that in rotting would leave depressions of the sur- 
face. Two or three plowed crops, or a Summer fallow, 
might be first taken, so that the surface may be made 
smooth and level. If there are hollows and knolls, the 
latter must be leveled and the former filled up. This can 
be done, in part, with the harrow, and in part with the 
scraper. The scraper for this purpose may be a plank, at 
the lower end of which a strip of wide band-iron or saw- 
plate is fastened. A pair of plow handles are fixed behind, 
with which it is guided, and a pole or a chain fastened to 



i:8 



IRRIGATION. 



rings in front, by which it is drawn by a team of oxen 
or horses. See fig. GG. The common horse-shovel may 
be used where it is available, and where considerable earth 
is to be moved, but the plank scraper will make an effec- 
tive leveler of the ground. The surface is to be rolled 
and harrowed alternately and repeatedly. Upon the care 




Fig. 66,— THE SCRAPER. 

and completeness with which this work is done the after 
value of the meadow will depend. When the surface is 
prepared, the seed may be sown before the canals and 
ditches are dug, lest the water should disturb the earth 
before it is covered with grass and bound together by the 
roots. 

When a surface already level, but without soil sufficient 
to bear a crop of grass without help, is to be improved 
by irrigation, the grass seed is sown after flooding, and 
while the ground is moist, and is left until what will 
sprout and grow has done so. The w^ater is then turned 
on to the surface, very gradually, and allowed to flow for 
24 hours, when the supply is shut off, and what is upon 
the surface is permitted to sink into the ground, or flow 
gradually away. This is repeated, more seed being sown 
each year, and water being let on whenever it is more 
than usually charged with solid matter. At every water- 
ing some deposit is left, and as the grass increases in 



MAKING THE CANALS. 139 

growth, mora of this solid matter will be arrested, until 
in a few seasons a sod will be formed, and the meadow 
begin to yield crops. This method consumes a great 
quantity of water, but is very usefully applied where there 
is a stream that is charged with mud or silt after every 
heavy rain. 

When the surface of the plowed meadow is ready for the 
■water, the canals are laid out, with a fall of not more than 
one foot in 1,000. Whatever is lost in the fall reduces the 
area that may be watered. The sods are removed carefully 
from the surface where the canal is dug, and used, after 
it is completed, to cover the sides. Being cut into pieces, 
and the pieces placed here and there upon tjne sides, the 
intermediate spaces ara sown with seed, and the gaps are 
soon filled. The distributing furrows are made in a simi- 
lar manner. These may be made with a plow by turning 
a furrow-slice, in exactly the line laid out, on the opposite 
side of the furrow from which the water is to overflow. 
Fig. 67. Great care is to be exercised in laying out the 



1 L_^ 

Fig. 07. — METHOD OF PLOWING THE FURROW. 

canals and furrows. A builder's level, fixed to the edge 
of a plank 13 feet in length, of equal width from end to 
end, having a cross-bar or foot, a foot long, fastened to 
each end, will make a useful implement for this pur- 
pose. One foot being set on the ground in the line 
of the ditch, the other is moved from one side to the 
other in the same direction, until the level is found. A 
peg is driven there to mark the spot, and the level moved 
further on. It does not require much ingenuity to do 
this, and any farmer of ordinary intelligence need not 
fear that he will go wrong if he will only be careful and 
cautious as he goes along, and takes the precaution to 



140 IRRIGATIoV 



verify his levels by turning the implement, and going 
back over the line. 

Many rough, stony, or swampy pieces of ground already 
in grass, may be improved without disturbing the sur- 
face, by thoroughly draining the subsoil and laying out 
canals without reference to any particular line, but merely 
causing tiiem to follow the level in a direction meander- 
ing to suit the surface. Hollows should be filled wp with 
earth taken from adjoining elevations, the sod being first 
removed and then replaced. Waste pieces of land, at 
present a refuge and nursery for weeds of many kinds, 
and a detraction to the farms to which they belong, may 
thus be changed at smaU cost into laud of the most pro- 
ductive kind. 

The irrigation of an irregular surface, such as hill sides, 
although it may need more careful preparation and ad- 
justment of the levels, is no more difficult than that of a 
perfect level. In fact, there are advantages in favor of 
the irregular surface which offset the apparently easier 
irrigation of a dead level. Drainage is an indispensable 
adjunct of irrigation, and no land is so frequently drained 
by nature as a hill side, or what is known as rolling land. 
Generally the simplest methods of surface drainage will 
be sufficient for lands of considerable slope. The cost of 
thorough underdraining is therefore saved in the case of 
a meadow of this character. The water supply, and the 
character of the canals suitable for irregular, surfaces, 
differ in no respect from those already described. It is 
in the method of distributing the water, and laying out 
the furrows, that especial directions are needed. 

There are several methods of irrigating lands of this 
character, which are applicable to our circumstances. 
Level furrows may be used by which the water is carried 
in winding directions around the elevations and depres- 
sions of the surface, from feeders which are taken from 
the main supply canal whenever it may be most con- 



LAYING OUT FURROWS. 



141 



yenient. To trace the course of these distributing fur- 
rows is very easy, if the common level, already described, 
is used. The course, as thus laid out, will form a suc- 
cession of angles, the apex of each of which will be 
marked by a small peg driven in the ground. To pre- 




LAYING OUT FURROWS. 



vent abrasion of the furrows at these angles, gentle curves 
are to be made from point to point. These curves will 
conform exactly to the level of the furrow. Fig. 68 illus- 
trates the method of laying out these curves. If the 
slope is not so great as to permit washing out of the soil, 
the feeding canals may be carried straight down it. If 
the slope is too great for this to be done safely, the feed- 
ers wdll meander in the same manner as the furrows, or 




Fig. 69.— FURROWS ON A REGULAR SLOPE. 

they may be made to follow a diagonal direction across 
the slope, so as to bring the fall within proper bounds. 
The meadow will then appear as in fig. C9, in which «, h, 
are the canals or feeders, and the lateral lines the furrows. 
But the least troublesome and cheapest method is by in- 
clined furrows carried in the straight lines across the 
planes of level, and supphed by feeeders carried either di- 



142 



IRRIGATION. 



rectly or diagonally down tiie slope. The furrows branch 
both to the right and left from the feeders, and have bnt 
very little inclination from the level. They are made to 
diminish in size from the feeder until each disappears in a 
point at the extremity. Each feeder with its two lateral, 
ranges of furrows thus appears upon the surface in shape 
like the backbone of a fish, or what is especially known 
as '^ herring-bone shap 3." Fig. 70 exhibits a plan of a 
meadow thus laid out. The slope of the field is from 
top to bottom. The water is received by a main canal, 




Fig. 70.— FURROWS AND DRAINS FOR IRREGULAR SLOPES. 

aixd is diverted into subsidiary canals, A, B, and from 
them into the feeders, a, a, a, and the furrows which 
branch from them upon each side. The drains are seen 
at h, 1), h. The course of the water is shown by the ar- 
rows. The distance between the feeders should be from 
100 to 150 feet, which will make the furrows from 50 to 
75 feet long, and the latter should be from 15 to 20 feet 
apart. These distances will be regulated by the cliaracter 
of the soil as to its porosity or retentiveness. The lower 



STEEP HILL-SIDES. 143 

extremity of each feeder is closed by a sod or a small 
gate, and the flow may be regulated or diverted wheu de- 
sirable by the same means at any part of the channel. 
The (drains are placed midway between each feeder, and 
receive the surplus water, currying it off at the foot of 
the meadow. When the water is in flow, notice is to be 
taken of any portion of the meadow which does not re- 
ceive a supply, and a special furrow is to be made to 
remedy the defect. 

Drains are not always necessary upon these meadows. 
If the soil is clay and retentive of moisture, and the slope 
is slight, they will be indispensable. Where the soil is open 
and porous, and naturally drained by the subsoil, they 
may be dispensed with. But attention must be given to 
so feed the water that it is all used, and not allowed to 
drown the lower portions of the field. One drain at the 
foot of the meadow is to be provided in all cases. 

Another method of irrigation is adapted to very steep 
hillsides. This is known as the catch-water system. Hill- 
sides so steep that wagons cannot be taken upon them, 
may be watered by this system. A stream or canal flow- 
ing upon the crest of the hill is dammed, or closed tem- 
porarily, by means of a gate. The water then flows over 
the bank, in a sheet more or less perfect, as the bank has 
been leveled accurately or otherwise. At some distance 
down the slope, the water that is not absorbed by the 
soil is caught in a second canal or ditch, which, when 
full, overflows and spreads the water upon the section be- 
low it. The surplus is caught by a lower canal, and 
spread as before. This is repeated, until either the water 
is exhausted or the bottom is reached. If the supply is 
such that economy is to be exercised, the water may be 
carried into one of the lower canals by an underground 
spout of wood, and the meadow be watered in successive 
portions. The section of a field thus watered is shown 
in fig. 71. a, is the stream, and h, h, the canals, from 



144 IRRIGATION. 

which the water flows over the intermediate slopes. The 
canals in this system follow a perfectly level course, and 
much care is to be exercised to follow the sinuous course of 
this level across the meadow. A very safe method is to 
make the lower side of the canal of plank or slips of 
board, over the edge of which the water will flow without 
injury to the canal. The cost of this system of irriga- 




rig.71.— CATCH-WATER FURROWS. 

tion is frequently not more than $10 per acre. The 
canals need to be but very small ; a furrow that will ar- 
rest the flow of water is all that is required, its main 
ofiice being to restrain the velocity of the water, and to 
collect it from the numerous streamlets into which it soon 
gathers, and again spread it in a thin sheet over the 
whole surface. 

Where the surface admits of it, a series of slopes and 
terraces may be made, which can be irrigated upon this 
system. See fig. 72. In this case, the slopes may be 
covered with grass, and the intervals cultivated if desired. 



Fig. 72.— SLOPES AND TERRACES. 

The water which flows down the slope is caught in the 
furrow at the foot, and then passes over the terrace on to 
the next slope. The furrow at the edge of the terrace is 
needed to retain the water sufficiently to thoroughly irri- 
gate the soil of the terrace, which would possibly other- 
wise receive less than its share. In this system of irriga- 
tion, when the soil is open and porous and the supply of 
water limited, it will be necessary to puddle the bottom 



DRAIXAGE. 145 

of the canals to prevent loss of water. It may be that 
the cheapest plan would be to make the bottom and lower 
side of the canal of boards. In this case, a board of 14 
inches in with w^ould form the bottom of the canal, and 
one of 8 inches the lower side. A canal of this capacity 
would convey w\ater enough for several acres, and would 
not be more costly than to puddle or cement the bottom, 
w^hen clay is not readily at hand. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DRAINAGE OF IRRIGATED FIELDS. 

The absobate necessity of w^ater to vegetable growth 
must not be accepted in an unqualified sense. Water is 
a good and necessary thing, but there may be too much 
of it, and too much is as fatal to the profitable culture of 
land as too little. As the circulation of air brings life 
and vigor to the lungs of an animal, so the circulation of 
water brings vitality to the roots of a plant. Stagnant 
water is as fatal to plant growth as stagnant air is to the 
health and well-being of animals. Therefore irrigation 
cannot be successfully used without adequate drainage. 
Sometimes this is naturally provided. Light soils, wdth 
gravelly subsoils, may permit the passage of w^ater through 
them wdth facility, acting as filters to retain all its fer- 
tilizing qualities. Such lands are the most readily adapt- 
ed to irrigation, and any artificial provision for carrying 
oS the w^ater from them is unnecessary. But there are 
many lands with retentive surface or subsoil, and others 
with subsoil practically impermeable to water, that if 
brought under irrigation must be thoroughly drained, or 
they will be injured instead of improved, and the charac- 



146 I II RIG ATI ox. 

ter of the yegetation they bear be totally changed. An 
undrained meadow may be thus, by irrigation, changed 
into a marsh, and good, though scanty grass be replaced 
by useless marsh sedges and rushes. Sloping lands may 
need drainage as much as level lands. Hillsides that have 
been brought under irrigation, have sometimes discharged 
their surplus waters at a lower level, where they have 
gathered and changed a portion of the surface into a 
quagmire, until drains have been constructed to remedy 
the evil. 

Again, there are cases in which, by a judicious system 
of drains, a swamp may be reclaimed, and the water, 
■which had been previously a hindrance to cultivation, 
may be gathered into ditches and used to irrigate a 
meadow, and yield bounteous crops. Such a case, v/hich 
actually occurred, may be profitably described. It was a 
hill-side of fertile clay soil, resting ui^on a clay slate, 
from which the soil of a level flat at its foot had been 
originally derived. Abundant springs broke out upon the 
hill-side, and after forming marshy spots around them, they 
disappeared until they again broke out at the foot of the 
hill, where they gathered and formed a dangerous and im- 
passable swamp. Here were 30 acres of land rendered 
worthless, and a dangerous trap for any stock that might 
be tempted to trespass upon its treacherous surface. Hun- 
dreds of similar tracts exist where there are hills and 
valleys. 

The reclamation of this tract was a very simple mat- 
ter. Its outlines are shown at figure 73. A drain was 
cut near the foot of the hill. See a. It was necessary 
to take this drain to a depth of seven feet before the 
heaviest springs were cut." At this depth, a flow of water 
was reached Vvinch nearly filled the ditch, and furnished 
a large stream. The drain was placed, with a view to ir- 
rigation of the meadow, a few feet above the level of the 
flat. It then formed a supply canal from v/hich the flat 



USE OF DRAINAGE WATER. 



147 



could be irrigated by means <Jl shallow ditches which led 
to lateral furrows diverging on each side of the ditches. 
The surplus water escaped from the foot of the meadow 
over the bank into a stream, b. The plan of the meadow 




Fig. 73.— SECTION OF A DRAINED HILL AND IRRIGATED FLAT. 

is shown at fig. 74. A being the hill ; a, a, the drain, 
from which the ditches and furrows are led down to the 
stream, b, h, at the foot. By closing the shallow ditches the 
water could be backed up over the meadow or thrown in- 
to lateral ditches. None of these ditches were deep 
enough to obstruct a mowing machine. It only required 






'"i\ 




J 



Fig. 74.— PLAN OF THE DRAIN AND FURROWS. 

the labor of two men for three months, and the lapse of 
two years' time, to convert this 30 acres into a dry, arable 
field of 12 acres, and a meadow of 18 acres, which was 
covered with grass and clover where, in former years, 
several cows had been mired and smothered in mud. 



148 IRRIGATION. 

It is not the purpose liere to treat of drainage with 
reference to itself alone, but only so far as it maybe used 
in connection with, or as an adjunct to, irrigation. 
Drainage may be superficial or subterranean. Superficial, 
or surface drainage, is the simplest. Nothing is needed 
for its practice but to provide open channels into which 
the surplus surface water may find its way. As a matter of 
necessity, these to be perfect must be i:)laced at the lowest 
levels of the ground to be drained. Besides, they need 
to be placed in such relation to the distributing furrows 
of the irrigating system, as to catch the water as soon as 
it has completely accomplished its purpose, and remove 
it in the most effective manner. Sufficient description 
of needed methods has already been given, to make clear 
the means of doing this. For subterranean, or subsoil 
drainage, much more elaborate and costly methods are 
necessary. Not only must expensive ditches be made, 
and earthen tiles be used, but the arrangement of the 
drains, with reference to the irrigating ditches or furrows, 
must be carefully made. 

No drain should exist immediately beneath an irrigat- 
ing ditch, canal or furrow, for the reason that excavated 
earth cannot be so returned as to be as compact as it laid 
before. If then a water channel passes across, or along 
a line of earth, that has been disturbed, a rapid infiltra- 
tion occurs, the water makes itself a channel, which is 
rapidly enlarged ; sand or earth is carried into the drains, 
and the water not only escapes without doing its work, 
but chokes the drains in a short time. Thus no drain 
should be made nearer to an irrigating furrow, or canal, 
than six feet, and no irrigating fuiTow should terminate 
at a less distance from the line of a drain, than six feet. 
The usual arrangement of drains and furrows is shown at 
figure 75. Here A, A, is the main canal ; A, B, A, C, 
the feeders, with the lateral distributing canals or fur- 
rows ; a, the main drain, which discharges into the 



FLUSHING DKAINS. 



149 



outlet, and c, c, are the small collecting drains. The 
small drains follow the direction of the greatest slope of 
the ground. 

The system of drains to be adopted will, in all cases, 
conform to that of the system of canals and f urrow&. When 
in perfection the drainage system will be an exact counter- 
part of that of the irrigation, and so devised as to carry 
off the water after its service has been performed, and to 



Fig. 75.— M.VNNER OF SUB-DRAINING AN IRRIGATED MEADOW. 

.cause it to circulate completely through every portion of 
the soil occupied by the roots of the grass, after it has 
been spread completely over the surface. The construc- 
tion of the drains is in no wise different from that of 
ordinary tile drains, and therefore needs no description 
here. 

Ifc is sometimes found of great service, consequent 
upon the frequency with which sand or earthy sediment 
is carried into the drains, to provide a method of flooding 
and flushing them. This is called intermittent drainage. 
It is applied also very advantageously to fields that are 
subjected to intermittent irrigation, or irrigation by sue- 



150 



lERIGATIOX. 



cessive portions. It consists in supplying an earthen or 
wooden pipe, which is set perpendicularly in the ground 
in the line of the main drain, so that the main drain 
pipe enters it upon one side, and leaves it upon the other. 
This pipe thus cuts the main drain at such intervals as 
may be desirable. It is covered by a cap, and is reached 
through a covered trap or box, placed on a level with the 
surface of the ground. This is seen at fig. 76. The 

proper situations for these 
pipes are just below the junc- 
tion of a series of lateral drains, 




as at d, d, in fig. 



70. 



These 



Y\z. 76. 



-PLUG FOR CLOSING 
BRAIN. 



pipes offer facilities for closing 
the drain by means of simple 
contrivances. The most ef- 
fective of these is a plug or 
cushion of wood, which fits 
in the drain leading from 
the pipe or well. This plug 
is fastened horizontally to 
the lower portion of the T- 
shaped arm. One of the up- 
per cross parts of the T is fixed into a hole or groove in 
the pipe or well, and a wire is fastened to the other cross 
part. When the wire is pulled, it moves the lower porT 
tion of the T laterally, and draws the plug from the 
opening of the drain pipe. When the wire is released, 
the weight of the arm of the T carries the plug to its 
place again, or the force of the water flowing through 
the drain carries it and holds it there. This is shown in 
fig. 76, in which A, B, is the drain pipe ; a, the box or 
trap by which the wire is reached ; h, the ping with its 
movable arm, from which a copper wire is carried to the 
upper box, where it is secured by a ring upon a hook. 

The operation of the contrivance is as follows : When 
the drain is closed and the flow is stopped, all the drains 



METHODS OF FLUSHING. 



151 




above the obstacle are charged with water. Water also 
accumulates in the subsoil and soil, and in fact the 
whole portion of the field under the influence of the 
drains, becomes filled with water as completely as may be 
desired. At any time when the drain may be opened, 
there is a rush of water through the drains, by which 
any sediment is effectively carried 
away, and the drains lelt free and 
clear. The operation may be re- 
peated upon each division of the 
field consecutively from the foot up- 
wards. Instead of the plug above de- 
scribed, an iron rod, having a curved 
sheet of zinc, or tinned or galva- 
nized iron, attached to the end, see 
fig. 77, may be used. The curved 
sheet reaches quite round the well, 
and wdien drawn up opens the drain, 
but when pushed to the bottom, 
closes it. If the well is square, a slide 
made to move in grooves may be used to close the drain. 
The simpler the method, the less risk there is in its use ; 
but the need of permanence of structure is obvious, for 
if it gets out of order, nothing remains but to take up 
the well and replace it. 

Whatever system of drainage is adopted, is immaterial, 
if the main points here touched upon are provided for. 
It must not be forgotten, however, that drainage is in- 
dispensable, and that except under rare circumstances, 
thorough subsoil drainage only will be sufficient to meet 
all the requirements of the case ; and that surface drain- 
age may be an unsatisfactory makeshift for the more joer- 
fect method. The size of tile used, is one inch for the 
small drain, two inches for the laterals, and three or four 
inches, or even larger than that, for the main drains. 
The size of the main drains should bear a proper proper- 



Fis:. 77. — A CURVED 
DRAIN-STOPPER. 



152 IBEIGATIOX. 

tion to the quantity of water admitted to the field, and 
it may be that the discharge drain, into which the main 
drains enter, may need to be six or eight inches in di- 
amej;er. This question, as to the size of tile, will need 
careful consideration, because if the size is insuflicient, 
the flow will be retarded, with the inevitable result of 
sediment and choked drains. As a general rule, the main 
pipes for irrigated meadows should be twice as large as 
those used for ordinary drains, as the excess of surplus 
water at times may be very large. Any system of pipes, 
that is not equal to the most exacting emergency, will be 
insufficient, and calculations must be made to meet such 
an emergency. Before any large expenditure of money 
or labor is made in laying down drains, which once laid, 
admit of no remedy except total undoing of the work 
and relaying the pipes, it would be judicious to consult a 
capable civil engineer, who could readily make safe cal- 
culations as to the size of pipe, the position of the drains, 
and the number required. 



CHAPTER XV 

MANAGEIvIENT OF IRRIGATED FIELDS. 

When a field has been r.uccessf ully irrigated and drained 
afc great expense, it may be seriously injured for a. ant of 
proper management. To care properly for an irrigated 
meadow calls for the exercise of tact and skill of no mean 
character. A few general rules may be laid down for the 
proper management of irrigated meadows, which will 
serve to meet the majority of cases, and by modifications 
of which exceptional cases may be met. The point of 
chief importance is to avoid pasturing. ]N"o hoof should 
be permitted upon a completely irrigated meadow, unless 
it be, under certain restrictions, those of sheep. Sheep 



PASTUEIXG. 



153 



may be allowed to pasture such a meadow after the last 
crop of hay has been made, and a sufficient interval has 
elapsed to thoroughly dry the ground and give the grass 
a start again.* There is no better or cheaper way to fer- 
tilize a meadow than this. But if heavy rains occur, the 
flock should be removed at once, and not admitted until 
the ground is dry again. Where a tough, thick sod 
covers the ground, greater latitude may be permitted. 
There are irrigated meadows in parts of England which 
possess a sod so dense, and such a heavy growth of grass, 
that one acre inclosed with hurdles is the regular daily 





K - 


.^ 


_ ^ 


' y^ 


"^ 1 


' y/ 


^. ■ 


V 





Fig. 78. — FOKM OF HUBBLE. 

allowance of pasture for 1,000 sheep. This is equal to 
43' 1^ square feet for each sheep, or a space of 4 by 11 feet 
only. The droppings of such a flock, so fed, will be a rich 
and most evenly distributed manuring, and when, as in 
the cases referred to, the sheep are fed with oil-cake or 
grain in addition to the pasture, a great increase of fer- 
tility results. But it is questionable if we shall ever see 
such a meadow under our more ardent skies, unless it 
be by means of irrigation and fertilizing, such as are 
there in use. 

The use of hurdles, for pasturing sheep upon irrigated 
meadows, is an absolute necessity. Unless confined in 
this way, sheep will wander over every portion of a field 
in one day, and picking out some favored spot will remain 
there, leaving others The flock should then be confined, 
in such a space as they may pasture down evenly, and 



154 



IRRIGATION. 



moved daily to a fresli portion. There are various kinds 
of hurdles used for this purpose. A light hurdle may be 
made of split poles or laths, three inches in diameter for 
the uprights, and an inch and a half in diameter for the 
bars. The upright ends project below for a foot, and are 
pointed. By driving the pointed ends into the ground 
with a wooden mallet, the hurdles are kept in place, and 




Fig. 79.— LOOSE HURDLE. 

standing end to end, form a light portable fence, which 
can be quickly taken down and set up again. This is 
seen at fig. 78. Another easily made and portable hur- 
dle consists of a pole or scantling, 10 feet long, bored 
with holes, alternately in opposite directions, and 12 
inches apart. Stakes five feet long are put through these 
holes, making a hurdle with a cross-section like the let- 



CARE OF PASTURED FIELDS. 



155 



. ' c 


1 


d> 


i 


9 
L 




9 

6 


6 I 

I 


^ m 




. « 





-PLAN OF SETTING 
HURDLES. 



ter X. See fig. 79. These hurdles are merely placed 
upon the ground, resting upon the ends of the stakes, 
and may he rolled over and over from place to place. Set 
end to end, they form a fence that is not only impene- 
trable, but is uninviting in apijearance to a sheep given 
to transgress beyond its legitimate bounds. An arrange- 
ment is common among shepherds in England by which 
hurdles are used with great econo- n 

my in material and labor of re- 
moval. A plot of about a square 
acre is supposed to be inclosed. 
This may be done by four lines of 
hurdles, of 200 feet each. Half 
an acre may be fed by j^lacing the 
fourth line across from the middle 
of the second and third lines of Fi^. 
hurdles, thus dividing the plot. 
The second half acre is fed by moving the fourth line to 
the ends of the second and third. Adjoining plots are 
fed in the same manner by moving three lines of hurdles, 
leaving one to be one of the sides of the new plot. This 
plan is followed until the whole field has been gone over. 
Fig. 80 exhibits a diagram which shows each plot num- 
bered successively as fed. 

After a field is pastured, it should be rolled with a 
smooth, heavy roller. Frequent rolling is very beneficial 
to an irrigated meadow, smoothing and compacting the 
surface ; but it should be done only when the ground is 
dry, and in a line with the feeding canals. The roller 
may be taken across the distributing furrows, when they 
are ^oroperly made, but in no other direction than directly 
across them. TVagons should be used yery carefully upon 
meadows, and should never be heavily loaded, lest ruts 
may be cut to the injury of the surface. Wooden shod 
sleds are preferable to wagons. In case a temporary bridge 
across a canal or feeder is needed, it may be made by 



156 IRRIGATION. 

placing a few stout poles from each bank to the bottom 
of the caual upon the opposite sides, crossing them and 
placing upon them in a line with the canal a few rails or 
poles to make a level passage. This leaves a passage for 
the water in the canal, and by laying two or three poles 
or rails on the ground at each side of the canal, the edges 
will be preserved from injury. 

Generally, the season of irrigation in our Northern 
States will be from April to October. As the climate be- 
comes warmer, and as the Southern States are ap- 
proached, the season will be lengthened at each end, com- 
mencing earlier in the Spring and closing later in Autumn. 
In some localities the season will continue through the 
"Winter. But when the water is warmer than the soil, 
danger of unseasonably exciting vegetation is to be ap- 
prehended where severe late frosts occasionally occur, and 
must be carefully guarded against, either by suspending 
the irrigation, or by refraining from drawing off the water 
from meadows that arc entirely submerged, leaving the 
covering of water as a temporary protection until the dan- 
ger has passed. The best times for flowing meadows are 
at night, or on cloudy, calm days wdien there is little 
wind, or when it is raining ; windy, clear days or times 
when the sun is bright, should be avoided. The reason 
for this is, that the rapid evaporation which would occur 
on bright sunny or windy days would greatly depress the 
temperature of the wet soil and retard the growth of the 
grass. A calm evening is the most favorable time for any 
irrigation, and nocturnal watering tends to restrain the 
radiation of heat from the surface, wdiich is active upon 
calm, clear nights. Intelligent judgment is to be exer- 
cised in this regard. When water is applied to a meadow, 
it is better to give it abundantly rather than sparingly. 
Generally the temperature of the water is, or should be, 
higher than that of the subsoil in which the roots exist. 
A copious irrigation will be sufficient to overcome this 



PREVENTION OF DRAINAGE. 157 

lower temperature, and raise it sensibly, with beneficial 
effect. A more moderate irrigation would, on the con- 
trary, be in danger of producing a contrary effect, be- 
cause it would be insufficient to overcome the loss conse- 
quent upon the increased evaporation. 

The nature of the soil needs to be studied in regard to 
the quantity of water that should be applied, and the 
periods of its application. A porous soil should be copi- 
ously irrigated for short periods and at short intervals. 
The object is to supply nutriment to the grass, not to 
cause an excessive filtration through the subsoil, which 
might carry away valuable fertilizing matter. On a re- 
tentive soil the irrigation should be less copious, lest sur- 
face exhaustion should occur by washing away valuable 
soluble matters, and it may be continued for longer peri- 
ods with longer intervals between them. The usual peri- 
ods of irrigation are, for 24 to 72 hours, at intervals of 
four to twelve days. The condition of the soil is the only 
guide for these. 

It is necessary that the irrigator exercise great watch- 
fulness over his field and become acquainted with all its 
special characteristics, that he may direct the water in 
this place or that ; that he may withdraw here or there ; 
that he may regulate the supply of water according to 
the condition of the vegetation, or the state of the 
weather, which may change from day to day. Where ir- 
rigation is extensively practiced, a person whose sole 
attention is directed to the application of the water, ought 
to be employed. One capable man could attend to sev- 
eral hundred acres, and might earn his season's wages by 
preventing in time one single mishap, which would prob- 
ably be overlooked by a person who had the care of many 
other details upon his mind. Besides, there are frequent 
occasions, where water is purchased by the inch, in which 
attention during the night is necessary to prevent waste. 
This special care is indispensable in the irrigation of field 



158 IRRIGATIOX. 

crops, but although not vital to success in case of 
meadows, is nevertheless of advantage and importance. 

Every Autumn the drains, canals, feeders, and furrows 
should be repaired, sodded, or put in perfect order. The 
soil is in an unfit condition to be disturbed so early in 
Spring as might be necessary, and heavy Winter rains 
might easily devastate a system of imperfect or damaged 
canals or ditches. Where trees are growing in the 
meadows, the dead leaves should be carefully raked up 
and removed, lest the drains be choked with them. 
Coarse manure should never be spread upon a water 
meadow. If fertilizers are needed, wood ashes, guano, 
superphosphate of lime, and plaster only should be ap- 
plied. In the Spring of the year, after tli-o early floods 
have passed away, an occasional dressing of one or more 
of these may be given when thought necessary. If coarse 
manure must be used upon such a meadow, in the absence 
of all other fertilizers, it should be spread in the Fall and 
raked up carefully in the Spring with the horse-rake, 
leaving no litter upon the field. 

Eolling the surface in the Spring, after the ground has 
become dry, will be imperative. Any inequalities of the 
surface not thus removed, should be remedied with the 
shovel, first removing the sod and then replacing it and 
beating it down firmly. A lawn mower would serve ex- 
cellently to remove the grass from the distributing fur- 
rows, passing up on one side and down on the other. 
This should be done as frequently as may be needed to 
keep the current free from obstruction. Otherwise this 
work should be done with the scythe, but the small cost 
of a lawn-mower will be amply returned in one season 
by the saving of time in attending to one acre of meadow. 
Irrigation should be suspended at least eight days before 
the crop is mown. The length of this interval will de- 
pend somewhat upon circumstances, which may hasten 
or retard the drying of the ground. If mown by hand, 



SEEDING. 159 

the field need not be so dry as if mown by horse and ma- 
chine. If the weather is very dry, an irrigation of an 
hour or two during the previous evening will moisten the 
grass and greatly facilitate the cutting. Valuable herb- 
age may be encouraged and useless weeds repressed, to a 
great extent, by the use of superphosphate of lime 'as an 
occasional dressing. Excessive watering encourages coarse 
grasses and sedges, and the growth of these injurious 
weeds must be carefully guarded against, by care in ap- 
plymg the water and by drainage. The early maturity of 
the grass necessitates early cutting. The proper time for 
cutting IS before the seed is ripe, and immediately after 
the blossoming is past. Some of the grasses thrive best 
when cut befoie blossoming, and recover the check with- 
out loss of time. For a perennial meadow, this is a mat- 
ter for observation and experience, and is important to 
study. Re-seeding in part will be occasionally needed. 
No grass endures indefinitely, and as the herbage dies out, 
it must be reinforced by new seed. This is to be done by 
spreading from time to time, when found necessary, a 
sufficient quantity of that kind of seed which is found to 
grow most thriftily in the locality, and upon each parti- 
cular soil. These conditions are so diverse that it would 
be useless to give even general directions, or attempt to 
meet them. Each owner of a meadow must in this be a 
law unto and a judge for himself. 

Some species of grass will bear much more cutting 
than others. One of the best of our common grasses for 
irrigated meadows is Kentucky Blue-grass. This has been 
found to submit to frequent watering, and has made a 
profuse growth, more especially late in the season. A ' 
watered meadow, covered almost wholly with this grass, 
has been in fine condition for cutting in September, and 
has yielded a good crop of hay as late as the first week in 
October. After that date the field furnished abundant 
pasturage until the severe frosts made the herbage un- 



160 lEEIGATION. 

wholesome. This instance occnrred in Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania. Where meadows are only partially irrigated ; they 
may be jDastured freely, so long as the soil is dry and is 
not '^poached " or cut up by the hoofs of cattle or horses. 
Such meadows should be laid out with broad, shallow 
water-furrows, so that there will be no danger of the 
edges being broken down by the tramj^ling of the stock. 
The late pasturing of meadows by sheep should never be 
permitted, unless the growth is thick and heavy, as these 
animals nip the grass very closely and would expose the 
roots to the frost, endangering the unequal heaving of 
the surface during the Winter. But as cattle are accus- 
tomed to bite here and there, and leave scattered bunches 
of the rejected herbage, it should be made a business, not 
to be neglected, to go over these with a mower and level 
them before the season is closed. The droppings of the 
cattle should be broken up finely and scattered over the 
surface before they become frozen. Early in Spring, be- 
fore any water is given, the meadows should be put into 
the best condition, the surface cleared of rubbish, and 
rolled, the ditches and furrows examined and repaired, 
and the drains cleared if this is needed. It is at this 
time that any seed or fertilizers that may be thought 
necessary, should be given. Lastly, the fences should be 
made perfectly safe. The trespassing of heavy stock upon 
a newly Avatered meadow might do very serious and very 
extensive injury. 

When the grass is nearly ready for cutting, no water 
should be given. In general, the watering should be so 
timed, that the growth of grass is pushed forward as 
quickly as possible in its earlier stages, and when the 
herbao^e is short. When the o-round is well covered and 
shaded, a good soaking will supply the soil with sufficient 
moisture to mature the crop of grass. Then ten days or 
two weeks may elapse between the last watering and the 
cutting. As soon as the hay is made and removed, water 



FERTILIZI2^G. 161 

should be given immediately, but never in tlie day-time, 
unless the weather is cloudy, or it is raining. In the 
evening, after sundown, the water may be given, and soon 
after sunrise it should be turned oil, unless it is in \Gry 
moderate quantity. 

When a water meadow is flooded, it is necessary to 
watch the water, and the moment a white scum is ob- 
served to float upon the surface, the water should be 
drawn off. Meadows that are flooded by streams, should 
not be watered in time of freshets, if there is any sedi- 
ment in the water, unless very early in the Spring, or 
immediately after hay has been made. If the grass is of 
any considerable length, the suspended matter will be re- 
tained amongst it and make it gritty or sandy, and seri- 
ously interfere with the cutting. The flooding of a water 
meadow is preferably done during the Winter, when the 
solid matter, deposited by the water, is of the greatest 
value as a fertilizer ; the Summer- watering is to supply 
the needed moisture only, and not to fertilize the crop in 
the sense of adding manurial matter. Summer irrigation 
is therefore only moderate in quantity, and an excess of 
water will be injurious at this season. 

The most suitable fertilizers for irrigated meadows are 
nitrate of soda and Peruvian guano, used alternately, and 
not mixed together. Whcx^e the growth of grass is forced 
so much as under irrigation, active and soluble fertilizers 
given in small quantities, and frequently, are required. 
The proper periods for their application are early in 
Spring, and immediately after the cutting of the grass ; 
80 pounds per acre, or half a pound to the square-rod of 
either, will be a sufiicient quantity to apply at once, and 
the repetition of this top-dressing may be given only 
when the condition of the grass seems to call for it. 
Every fifth or sixth year a dressing of lime may be given 
in Winter, and should be spread upon the snow if pos- 
sible, (for the preservation of t!ie surface) rather than in 



162 IRRIGATIOX. 

any other manner. Where it is known that lime is effec- 
tive upon the soil, it may be used in the same manner as 
upon other lands ; if used experimentally, 40 bushels per 
acre may be taken as the normal quantity. The needs of 
the soil as to fertilizing may be calculated as proportion- 
ate to the drafts made upon it. Where hay is removed 
and the meadow is not pastured, at least the amount of 
fertilizing matter mentioned above will be required, or 
even more, if the grass crops are heavy and of good qual- 
ity. If sheep are pastured upon a meadow in the day- 
time, and fed at night in yards, with bran, grain, or any 
extra food, or if dairy cows are so pastured and fed, the 
need for fertilizers will be small, or none may be required. 
A reasonable consideration should be given to this point, 
which will be an easy matter for the intelligent farmer. 
In pasturing these meadows, it will be best to stock 
them closely, and use only a portion at a time, that the 
grass may be eaten off clean, and not trampled down. By 
dividing the meadow into sections, it will be easy to ar- 
range for 2:)asturing one part, while the others are cither 
under water or in different stages of growth. As a gen- 
eral rule it is advisable not to pasture sheep freely upon 
watered meadows, unless they are fed for the butcher. 
When fed for fattening, they make very rapid growth; 
the lush herbage causes an excessive secretion of bile, 
which at first assists greatly in the formation of a high- 
colored fat, but after this favorable stage is passed, the 
blood may, and will probably, become affected and inflam- 
matory disease appear ; or the sheep will almost certainly 
become infected with flukes, and the rot will inevitably 
result. Only experienced sheep owners should make use 
of pastures irrigated by streams, and they should be 
watchful not to overpass the point of safe exposure to the 
dangerous feeding. When the meadows are watered from 
wells, through pipes, as described on page 55, this cau- 
tion may not be applicable. 



IRKIGATION OF ARABLE LANDS. 163 

CHAPTER XVI. 

IKRIGATION OF ARABLE LANDS. 

Few of us ever consider that the larger portion of the 
arable surface of the United States is doomed to com- 
parative steriHty, unless brought under systematic and 
permanent irrigation. West of the 100th meridian of 
longitude, almost to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and 
from our southern to our northern boundary, stretches a 
vast tract of land, rich in every element of fertility but 
moisture, and useless for the purposes of agriculture in 
its present condition. But while the immense tract is- 
arid in its climate, and for all practical purposes it may 
be said to be absolutely rainless, yet there flows, across or 
beneath its surface, the water-shed of a vast and intricate 
range of mountains, snow-clad during a part or the whole 
of the year, and which divides it into two portions. It 
needs but to capture this water, and spread it over the 
surface, to insure abundant and certain harvests. It may 
surprise a farmer, used to depend upon the changeful 
seasons of the Eastern part of the country, to learn that 
upon these arid lands there may be grown luxurious crops 
of grass, grain or roots, with the greatest certainty ; that 
in this climate, the farmer who has brought the waters 
beneath his yoke, has secured literally and naturally the 
fulfillment of the promise, that seed-time and harvest 
should never more fail, while he himself enjoys it only 
in part and accidentally, and occasionally fails completely 
to reahze it. But this is the fact, for drouth and aridity 
are entirely subjugated by means of irrigation, and are, 
strangely enough, only sources of anxiety and loss in those 
districts were rain falls, and the farmer is subject to con- 
ditions of climate which he can neither foresee nor con- 
trol. Seed-time and harvest are only sure where irriga- 
tion is systematically used by the cultivator. 



164 IRKIGATION. 

But the irrigation of lands of the character under con- 
sideration, can only be profitably undertaken by the com- 
bined eSort of a community. The necessary engineering 
works, such as dams, canals, sluices, water-ways, and 
aqueducts, can only be constructed by means of ample 
capital, and for the use of numerous farmers, cultivating 
in the aggregate many thousands of acres. In such cases, 
the total cost divided among the farms to be irrigated, 
would leave for each one a sum far less than that needed 
to clear a farm of equal size from the forest. The actual 
cost of irrigating works of a permanent character, has 
been found to range from so small a sum as $1 per acre, 
upward. That is, a community of farmers, numbering 
some hundreds, may construct the necessary dams, canals, 
sluices and feed-gates to-irrigate 10,000 to 50,000 acres of 
land, at a total cost not to exceed $5 per acre, where the 
conditions of water supply, character of soil, and surface 
of the land are favorable. To clear an acre of average 
timber land, will cost $12 to 125 per acre, Und the money 
value of the damage incurred annually, by reason of the 
stumps and roots which interfere with cultivation, until 
they have rotted away or have been removed with infinite 
labor, may easily amount to $20 per acre more. To irri- 
gate a farm permanently, may then cost but one-eighth 
of the sum necessary to clear it of timber. This estimate 
will allow of substantially constructed works, which will 
require but little repair, or renewal, to keep them in per- 
manently good condition. Large tracts of land have been 
supplied with water for irrigation, at a much less cost 
than this, in some cases even so low as 25 to 50 cents per 
acre ; but this cost covers only the construction of the 
main supply ditch, and not the interior ditches, which, to 
be permanent, should be well laid out, and properly con- 
structed. It has been sufficiently well shown, however, 
that a supply of water for irrigation can be brought to 
and pprcad over a farm upon our dry plains, at a total ex- 



CHEAPNESS OF IRRIGATION. 165 

penditure of capital per acre not any greater than the 
annual rent paid per acre for irrigating water in European 
countries. It is true that we have cheap land upon which 
to construct the ditches, and that so far, for want of pre- 
occupation of the land, the course of the canal has been 
made to follow the meanderings of the line of grade 
chosen, and to save the cost of expensive aqueducts across ' 
valleys and depressions, and that economy in the use of 
the water has not been an object of serious consideration; 
but it may be some years or even centuries before the cost 
of irrigation with us can reach $5 to $10 per acre yearly, 
which is the cost of water supplied by canals of Europe. 
This cheapness of irrigation must undoubtedly give a 
great impetus to the settlement of lands upon the plains 
and great valleys, so soon as those who are now occasion- 
ally brought to the verge of ruin, by the failure of their 
crops, can be brought to understand its cheapness, its ease 
of application, and the certainty of crops secured by its 
means. The numerous settlements that have been made 
in California, Colorado, Utah, and other localities, and the 
success which has attended these pioneer efforts, in spite 
of all the drawbacks incident to a want of knowledge of 
the peculiarities of the climate and the soil, and inex- 
perience in the art of irrigation, will tend greatly to 
attract men toward new enterprises in this direction. 
The e\adent advantages of a system of agriculture, in 
which water can be supplied to the fields at will, and de- 
pendence upon a fickle and uncertain or arid climate is 
avoided, w^ill have numerous attractions to men who have 
seen the fruits of their labor perish, year after year, either ^ 
by drouth or excess of rain ; and as soon as trustworthy 
and exact information can be procured, thousands of set- 
tlers \\i\\ avail themselves of the benefits offered to them 
by a cheap, fertile soil, clear skies, genial climate, and 
water constantly at hand, and under the most perfect 
control. 



166 IRKIGATION, 

IiTigatioT?. of land is an art that has existed for many 
centuries previous toany aiithentic written history. The 
tradition::; of the Chinese,peoplc are very ancient, and ir- 
rio-ation is mentioned in their most ancient traditional 
history, as being extensively practiced. In Egypt, Syria, 
and the ancient kinodoms of Eastern Asia, agriculture 
depended almost wholly upon irrigation, and still so de- 
pends m these lands where the people have survived the 
political changes of thousands of years. Virgil in his 
rural poems thus describes exactly the processes which are 
followed now. *'He leads the stream and flowing rivu- 
lets, to the growing corn, and when the burnt field dries 
up, the herbs dying, he leads the water and cools the 
13arched fields with rills." The irrigation of gardens, 
vineyards, and fields, is frequently referred to in the 
Scriptures, one of the earliest books speaks of it and one 
of the prophets refers to ^^ furrows of the plantation." 
And so agriculture has continued to the present day, the 
necessities of the majority of the cultivators of the soil 
in the Eastern hemisphere, and the natural opportunities 
possessed by them, combining to render the system vital 
to their existense. When the Spaniards occupied the new 
found continent, they introduced their system of irriga- 
tion wherever the dryness of the climate demanded it. 
In Chili, Peru, Central America, and Mexico, the canals 
and ditches made by the early Spanish settlers remain, 
and many are still in use ; the systems adoj^ted in Cali- 
fornia, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, are mainly 
copied from the ancient models. It is hardly necessary 
to say that these models are not of the best construction, 
nor at all satisfactory to the engineer of the present day, 
but they are of cheap and easy construction. 

The settlement of the drier regions of our territory, 
adds another instance to those of past history, of the 
reclamation of deserts by irrigation. It will be of in- 
terest to glance over what has already been done in this 



WHAT HAS BEEN DOXE IX COLO Pw ADO. 1C7 

way, before considering the possibilities of the future. Tiie 
actual history of irrigation in the United States begins with 
the occupation of Utah by the Mormons in 1846. At that 
time the territory was a waste of barren land and sao-e brush. 
In 1808, twenty two years after the first settlement of Salt 
Lake valley, 93,799 acres of land were under irrigation 
at an expense of nearly 1250,000, and works were in 
course of construction which, when comj)leted, would 
greatly enlarge the area of land under cultivation. With 
the exception of the continuance of some of the irrigation 
works constructed by the Spaniards in Texas, New 
Mexico, and California, a hundred and fifty years ago, 
and which have been in use up to the time when the ter- 
ritory came into the possession of the United States, but 
little was done in the way of irrigation, until the occupa- 
tion of Colorado and the adjacent territories, when these 
were rendered accessible by the opening of the Pacific 
railroads. In the course of a few years a great impetus 
was given to the settlement of lands adjacent to the 
rivers, aad which could be brought under irrigation, and 
several extensive works were constructed. Amongst these 
may be mentioned the Platte River canal, 24 miles long, 
irrigating 50,000 acres of land, and suiDplying the city of 
Denver. Originally, the canal was 10 feet wide and 2 
feet deep at the head, but has been enlarged to 18 feet in 
width and 3 feet in depth. The fall is irregular, varying 
from 6 feet to 18 inches per mile. The cost was $100,000; 
a very excessive amount, but probably unavoidably so on 
account of its unscientific and wasteful mode of con- 
struction. 

The Table Mountain Ditch Company Canal, near Gol- 
den City, is nearly 20 miles long ; 12 to 15 feet wide at 
the surface, and 6 feet at the bottom, and 2 feet deep. 
The fall is 19 feet to the mile, in portions, and in con- 
sequence of this excessive slops the ditch is destroying 
itself very rapidly. A branch is 2^|, miles long. ^The 



168 IRKIGATIOX. 

cost was, (in 18G5), about S15,C00. From its faulty con- 
truction, it was dear, and will be costly to maintain. 
The charge for water is $1.50 per inch, per year ; equal 
to about $1 per acre, yeaTly. 

The Farmers' Ditch, also near Golden City, is 11 miles 
long, 8 to 12 feet wide on the surface, and 6 feet at the 
bottom, and 18 inches deep. Its cost was $10,000 ; it 
supplies nearly 40,000 acres, at a cost of about $1 per 
acre, yearly. 

At Greeley, on the Cache la Poudre, there are two irri- 
gating canals, one on the south side of the Cache la 
Poudre river, 10 miles long, which supplies the town and 
adjacent farming land, it is 15 feet wide on the bottom 
for 8 miles, has a fall of 3 feet to the mile, and the water 
is usually run 3 feet deep in the irrigating season. This 
canal has cost about 115,000. The main canal is 32 miles 
loDg, and is taken out of the Cache la Poudre river, 15 
miles west of Greeley, on the north side of the river. 
It waters over 20,000 acres of land, of which 10,000 have 
been brought under cultivation. It is 25 feet wide on 
the bottom for 3 miles, the next 5 miles it is 24 feet 
wide, 20 feet wide at the end of the 20th mile, and gradu- 
ally decreases to 10 feet at the 30th mile. It is 4 feet 
deep to the 20tli mile ; its fall fs 3 feet to the mile, 
velocity 3 miles per hour, or 4 and '"l^^^ feet per second, 
slope of banks 1 to 1; total cost, including dam in river, 
$60,000. The sectional area of the portion that is 24 
feet wide on the bottom is 112 feet, or 16,128 square inches, 
and having a velocity of 3 miles per hour, and it being 
generally considered that one "inch of water is sufficient 
for each acre under cultivation, this canal is large enough 
to water 16,000 acres. Each owner of an 80 acre lot 
under this canal has now paid $250 for his water right, 
which belongs to the land as a perpetual easement, and 
smaller and larger lots have paid in proportion. The 
canal is kept in repair, and a man paid for superintending 



# 

I 



SMALL EXTENT OF IRRIGABLE LAND. 1 C9 

it during the irrigating season, bj a tax on eacli 80 acres 
of 18 to ^12 annually. The superintendent measures the 
water into each ^Materal" ditch along the line of the 
main canal, according to the number of water rights joaid 
for in any year, and the farmers divide it from the small 
ditches themselves, according to what each is entitled 
to. Usually the farmers taking water from one '' lateral " 
form a company and build their main and sub-laterals, 
and deliver to each his just proportion of water. Some 
of the laterals are 4 miles long and have cost over $1,000. 
The whole system is working satisfactorily to all, and the 
land is constantly appreciating in value, as the amount of 
land that will eventually be brought nnder cultivation is 
limited to the amount of water in the streams. Probably 
not more than two million of the 67 million acres in this 
State can possibly be farmed, as the combined sectional 
area of all the streams at *^' high water " is not over 
1,500,000 inches, with a velocity of 3 miles per hour, and 
on an average it takes one inch of Avater x'unning at that 
rate for each acre under cultivation. For instance, a 
farmer having 100 acres in cultivation, gets 100 inches of 
water with this velocity, and he can get over, or water 
his crop in about 10 or 12 days. Usually wheat is water- 
ed here but two or three times, as there is rain or snow 
enough in the Spring, (April or May), to bring it up so 
that it will cover the ground. Corn, potatoes, and other 
late crops are watered oftener, but require less 2:>er acre 
than wheat. The above particulars are given by Mr. J. 
D. Buckley, engineer of the Greeley Colony. 

The Canal of The Saint Louis Western Colony, at Evans, 
with its branches, is 40 miles long, 10 feet wide at the bot- 
tom, with slopes of I'l^ to 1, (or 18 inches horizontal to 12 
feet perpendicular), with a water section of 53 square feet, 
and a fall of 7 feet per mile. The cost of the whole system 
is less than 125,000 for a total length of 40 miles, and 
115,200 acres are covered by it. 



ITO IRRIGATION. 

A 23rivate ditch, belonging to Mr. G. H. Church, of 
Boulder Co., is 10 miles long, 5 feet wide and 1 foot deep. 
The fall is excessive, viz. : 13 feet to the mile. It cost 
$1,000. It is connected^ with a reservoir, as its supply is 
not continuous, and a reserve is thus maintained. Forty 
acres of land, with the farm stock are watered, and a fish 
pond is supplied by it. The cost of watering is from 50 
cents to 11 ])ev acre, according to the character of the 
season. 

The Upper Platte and Bear Creek Ditch, is owned by 
a company in Arapahoe Co. It is 5 miles long, 16 feet 
wide, and 20 inches deep at the head, diminishing to- 
wards the foot. The cost of maintenance, which is as- 
sessed yearly u^oon the owners, averages $30 to 835 for 
144 square inches of water, or a supply safficicnt for 150 
or IGO acres. Interest on the oric^inal cost must be added 
to this annual charge, to reach the yearly cost of vrater- 
ing. No information as to the original cost has been 
given. There are many other irrigation works, con- 
structed either by joint effort or by incorporated com- 
panies, who lease the water at a remunerative yearly rent. 
These rents vary from $1.50 to $3.00 an acre per year for 
each square inch, which is equal to $1 to $2 per acre of 
land watered. The cost of the manipulation of the wa- 
ter, after it is received by the farmer, will obviously vary 
with the character of the crops. On the average 50 cents 
per acre, annually, will cover all expenses of distribution. 

As an instance of what has been and may be done in 
localities where partial irrigation maybe usefully applied, 
a case which occurred in the Arkansas valley, in Central 
Kansas, may be cited. Here is a broad, level, fertile 
valley, some miles in width, with gently rising table lands 
on either flank. Flowing through the center is the 
Arkansas river, a broad, magnificent stream, which 
neither floods nor dwindles in volume i:i the whole year. 
For several hundred miles after it issues from the moun- 



CALIFOKMAN ENTEKPKISE. 171 

taius it flows through rich, level bottoms, in Colorado and 
Western Kansas, most of which are too dry for cultiva- 
tion without irrigation, and now afford only pasturage. 
In Central Kansas it passes through a rich and beautiful 
countr}^, now well populated, on the verge of the dry 
' country, but within the arable region. At Hutchinson, 
in Reno Co., the enterprising inhabitants have cut a 
canal from the river, for a length of two miles, for the 
purpose of providing water power for factories, and mills. 
The fall of the river is 8 feet per mile, which is sufficient 
to carry the water in the course of a few miles on to the 
high uplands, and to water these as well as the broad 
valley. At present there is no intention of using the 
water for irrigation, but should it become necessary or 
desirable, it is here shown that an inexhaustible supply of 
water can be obtained at nominal expense to supply every 
need of the farmer in the dryest seasons. Also it is clear 
that the whole of this grand valley may be made available 
for farms. This is one instance only of what may, and 
in time undoubtedly will, be done in many places where 
there is only a partial and occasional use for water. 

Irrigation in California has, so far, been done by in- 
dividual enterprise. In 1871, there were 915 irrigating 
ditches, supplying only 90,000 acres of land, or on an 
average, but 100 acres to each ditch. The ditches, with 
few exceptions, are rude affairs, and of inconsiderable 
length. The exceptions are as follows : The San Joaquin 
and Kings River Canal Company, is 38' 1^ miles long, and 
is supplied by the San Joaquin river. It is 55 feet wide, 
four feet deep, vvdth a fall of one foot to the mile. 15,000 
acres are irrigated by this, and cultivated in wheat, bar- 
ley and alfalfa, and water enough for 00,000 acres more 
can be supplied. The extension of the canal 40 miles 
further, is proposed, by which 325,000 (?) acres can be 
irrigated. The cost so far is stated to be 1500,000, (an 
enormously excessive cost under any circumstances), and 



172 IRRIGATION. 

th2 income;, in 1873, for water rent, was less than $10,000. 
It is evident that for some reason, probably inexperience, 
and poor engineering, the cost of this canal has been 
ruinously great. The Kings River Company Canal when 
completed, is expected to water 300,000 acres (?). There 
seems to be a serious error in the stated capacity of these 
canals as will be explained in a future chapter. It is 30 
feet wide, 3 feet deep, Avith a fall of one foot to the mile. 
In the same valley the canal of Messrs. Chapman, Miller 
and Lux, taps the San Joaquin river, and runs 30 miles 
down the valley, supplying 30,000 acres. It is 35 feet 
wide, 3 feet deep, and falls one foot to the mile. Another 
canal, owned by Friedlander & Co., takes water from the 
Fresno river, at the foot hills of the same valley, and 
supplies 40,000 acres. This ditch is 10 miles long, 40 feet 
wide, and has a fall of about 10 inches to the mile. A 
reservoir, connected with the canal is a mile and a half 
long, 100 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Numerous farms, 
gardens, and orchards are irrigated by the smaller ditches, 
and some by wells. San Francisco is chiefly supplied 
with vegetables from irrigated gardens, many of which 
are cultivatad by Chinese. A small-fruit plantation of 8 
acres is watered by a 4'| ^ horse-power engine, from a well. 
In all the instances referred to, irrigation is successful and 
profitable. But in California, while irrigation is as yet 
in embryo, its possibilities are immense. The interests 
involved, however, are so vast and complicated, the min- 
ing interests clashing seriously with those of the farmers, 
that legislation will undoubtedly need to be invoked be- 
fore such moasures, as will be satisfactory and effective, 
can be applied to the gigantic natural facilities and op- 
portunities afforded in the valleys of this State. 

This naturally leads to the consideration of the owner- 
ship of the water, for from this question will probably 
arise much difficulty and litigation. It is anew element, 
depending at present upon the principles of common 



A CONGKESSIOXAL COMMISSION. 173 

law ; no statutory provisions having as yet been made to 
meet tlie necessarily involved interests which will be 
affected by it. Perhaps the only decision which relates 
to this is cited in the Massachusetts Agricultural Report 
of 1872, as follows : 

^^It has sometimes been made a question whether a 
riparian proprietor can direct water from a running stream 
for purposes of irrigation. 

" The language of the Court as best defining the prin- 
ciples governing this subject is as follows, to wit; That 
an individual owning a spring on his land, from which 
water flows in a current through his neighbor's land, 
would have the right to use the whole of it, if necessary, 
to satisfy his natural wants. He may consume all the 
water for his domestic purposes, including water for his 
stock. If he desires to use it for irrigation, and there is 
a lower proprietor to whom its use is essential to supply 
his natural Avants, or for his stock, he must use the water 
so as to leave enough for such lower proprietor. Where 
the stream is small and does not supply more than suffic- 
ient to answer the natural wants of the different pro- 
prietors living on it, none of the proprietors can use the 
water for irrigation or manufactures." 

This is so clearly inadequate to meet the urgent neces- 
sities of the case, that the immediate attention of Con- 
gress, and the various State Legislatures, is peremptorily 
called for. Fortunately, a beginning has been made, 
and a Commission was organized by an Act of Con- 
gress, approved March 3, 1873, to examine the great 
valleys of California, with reference to the construction 
of a system of irrigation. The report of this Com- 
mission is published in the yearly volume of the De- 
partment of Agriculture for 1874. The conclusions 
reached may be seriously questioned in many points, but 
on the whole are, as might have been expected, favorable 
both to the profitableness and feasibility of irrigation 



171: IRRIGATION. 

works, and to the interference of the National and State 
governments, and their control over the distribution of 
the water. In favor of government control there is both 
reason and precedent. By no other authority could the 
conflicting interests of miners, agriculturists, and owners 
of land to be injured or benefited by the enterprise, be 
properly reconciled. In Europe, the supreme control is 
exercised by, and the ownership of the water vested in, 
the State. The French government in 1G69, by special 
law, reserved the ownership of all rivers and streams, 
and grants concessions to irrigating companies under re- 
strictions. In Italy, the State has always exercised this 
ownership, and in Venice the springs, and even the rain- 
fall, so far as it can be stored in reservoirs, have been held 
to be public property. In India, the springs and rainfall 
are accumul-tted in reservoirs, controlled by the govern- 
ment, and the river systems are also owned by it ; not 
only this, but the details of the distribution of the water 
are also directed by government officials. This is made 
necessary, however, by the utter incapacity of the ignor- 
ant inhabitants to manage anything for themselves, that 
calls for more than a very low degree of intelligence. Lest, 
however, it might be urged that government ownership and 
supervision, is likely to lead to failure, the actual results 
attained in India may be very properly here cited. Dur- 
ing recent years, the British Grovernment has spent about 
170,000,000 in irrigating works, and others are in pro- 
gress of construction which will require half as much 
more to complete them. In almost every instance the 
investments have been profitable, and in some cases 
enormously so, both in the way of water rent, and in ser- 
vice to the cultivators of the soil. The total annual 
revenue to the government from the works, is more than 
$5,000,000, or T \, per cent on the cost. In one case only 
has there been a loss. The capital expended in the 
largest works, and the annual revenue from them, is given 



IIIKIGATIOX IN INDIA. 175 

in the following table, which is derived from the official 
reports of the East Indian Government : 

Capitil invested. Annual revenue. 

Nortli Western Provinces §17,8.7,225 51/4 per cent. 

Punjaub 15,671,000 5 

Madras 9,467,200 22^4 

Bombay and Siud 11,113,940 12 " 

Ganges Canal 14,400,830 4'/o " 

Eastern Jumna Canal 2,::50,000 11', ., 

Western " " 6,532,001 T'/o " 

Godavery Delta Works 3,418,535 39^4 

Kistnah " " 2,337,135 IS'/i 

Canvery " " 1,468,003 36V'2 

Sind Inundation Canal 5,930,000 18', 2 

The revenue to the government is the least portion of 
the profit derived from these works. The profit to the 
people themselves, amounts to a vastly greater sum, one, 
in fact, the amount of which is not to be comj3uted in 
money; for the famine, of frequent occurrence before the 
completion of these works, destroyed thousands of human 
lives, and caused thousands of square miles of fertile 
land to be abandoned to grow up to jungle. In 18G0, the 
Ganges canal preserved grain crops from destruction, 
"which fed a million of people ; in 1874 the Soave canal 
saved the crops over a large territory, which would other- 
wise have been devastated by drouth, and many of the 
newer Avorks, water regions which have heretofore been 
visited with some of the most destructive famines men- 
tioned in history. And the whole of this work has been 
undertaken and successfully managed by the government. 

Economy in the use of the water, and in the con- 
struction of the works also, calls for such extended sur- 
veys, perhaps over hundreds of miles of territory, that 
no private persons, nor associated companies, could j^os- 
sibly perform them, unless they were endowed with legal- 
ized monopolies or exclusive rights ; and in the light of 
past experience Avith huge chartered corporations, farm- 
ers could not wisely submit to have their interests — so 



176 IRRIGATIOX. 

vital in this case — placed in such keeping. The experi- 
ence already gathered in the case of the Cavour canal in 
Italy, proves that a chai'tered company is a most unsafe 
trustee for the interests of the persons most nearly con- 
cerned in an irrigating canal. In that case, while for- 
tunes were made by speculators, the work was a failure, 
and the government was forced to interfere and purchase 
the canal in the end. 

It is, however, out of place to argue this question here, 
and it is loft for the consideration of those interested, 
who will readily perceive the necessity for tlie course here 
indicated. 

The cost of in-igation has been very clearly shown by 
the successful enterprises in Colorado. It must be 
remembered, however, that nothing is paid for the 
vfater itself, and only the expense of bringing it to the 
fields is included in the figures given. As a rule, the 
more extensive the works, and the gi eater area brought 
under irrigation, the less is the cost per acre. But it is 
hardly probable that, in any case, the annual cost per 
acre, can be brought below an average of $1 to $2 per 
acre. In many cases the cost maybe more than this, but 
even then, the profit to the owner of the land will be 
many times greater than the cost incurred. Lands that 
have gone a begging at 15 per acre, in parts of Califor- 
nia, and have indeed been practically useless while with- 
out water, have been purchased eagerly at 125 to $50 per 
acre, as soon as a supply of water has been brought to 
them. In general, the extra value added to land by irri- 
gation, varies from $25 per acre up to several hundred 
dollars. In some portions of Europe, land is by irriga- 
tion increased in salable value, five to ten-fold. 

The charge for water in France, varies from 16 to $7 
per acre, annually; one cubic foot per second, being used 
for 70 acres, and $450 being paid per cubic foot per 
second, during the season. No water is permitted to be 



IN ITALY. 177 

given away, although the purchaser may have a surplus. 
One cubic foot per second, is equal to 73 square inches of 
water flowing at the rate of 4 miles per hour, or as fast 
as an active man can walk Avith ease. 

In Spain the Iberian Irrigation Company makes a 
charge of $7 per acre, for 12 waterings per year, equiva- 
lent to a total depth of 33 inches of water over the entire 
surface irrigated. The canal of this company is a splen- 
did engineering work, it being 28 miles long and costing 
1600,000. It has a surplus of water, equal to a power of 
3,000 horses, which is rented )ut at $50 per horse power 
per annum. 

In Italy the cost of water varies considerably. In Lom» 
bardy, about 1,600,000 acres are irrigated, at an invest- 
ment of about $20 per acre, or a total of $30,000,000, 
which is equivalent to $1,250 per cubic foot per second. 
The increased rental value of the irrigated land is $4,500- 
000 per annum ; or 15 per cent on the cost of the works. 
The average cost of the water to the farmer is from 
$750 to $850 per cubic foot per second, equivalent to 
$2.50 per acre for maize, $7.50 an acre for meadows, and 
$20 an acre for rice. A very good idea of the maximum 
cost of irrigation can be gathered from these figures. 
The water from some of the canals is purchased by local 
associations, of farmers or speculators, who distribute it 
to the irrigators. One of these local associations purchases 
water from two canals, paying $87 for the cubic foot per 
second for 714 feet from the first, and selling it out at 
, $96 per foot ; and $65 per foot for 674 feet from the 
second, and charging $77 per foot. The higher price is 
charged and paid on account of the , valuable fertilizing 
matter brought down by the w^ater. 

These figures, it should be remembered, are fixed by 
circumstances entirely different from any that are likely 
to occur in this country. The value of land is higher 
than with us ; the cost of the canals, aqueducts, bridges. 



178 IRRIGATION. 

and distributing apparatus, is much higher than would 
be necessary here, being made with scrupulous care for 
economy in both water and land ; and the cost of super- 
vision is much higher than would be likely to occur here. 
Unless costly dams, expensive bridges, and aqueducts, 
built with a view to the utmost permanency, should be 
required, there would probably never be any approach 
made here, to the high cost of water that is experienced 
in European countries. Some of the European works, 
now in operation, have been in existence for more than 
1,500 years. Others abandoned, but still in serviceable 
condition, are over 2,000 years old. 

The quantity of water needed for irrigation, as has 
been already explained, varies greatly, and in making 
estimates of the amount required, for any stated territory, 
the engineer or irrigator must necessarily study both soil 
and climate. Where exhaustive circumstances belonging 
to either are found, reasonable allowances must be made. 
A maximum consumption, as indicated by experience in 
Colorado, as well as by comparative estimates in foreign 
countries with arid climates, may be considered to be, 
one square inch per acre continually flowing ; and an 
average consumption to be 72 square inches per 100 acres 
continually flowing at the rate of four miles per hour, or 
half a cubic foot per second. This estimate, however, 
does not include the loss by evaporation, or soakage 
through the bed of the canal ; losses which, in one of the 
Californian canals, amounts to more than 40 per cent of 
the quantity entering the mouth of the canal, and is 
therefore seen to be a very serious item of consideration 
by the hydraulic engineer. Some further remark upon 
this important point will be found in the chapter on 
Canals further on, to which attention is directed. 

The art of irrigation, however, is in its infancy with us 
as yet ; and although we enjoy some special advantages, 
there are some things to be learned before the full benefit 



I 



CAUTIONARY SUGGESTIONS. 179 

of the prp.ctice can be reached. To some extent, our 
appliances are rude and ineLfective, and the watering of 
crops is sometimes done in such' a way as to be injurious 
to them or wasteful of water. Farming by irrigation, 
beneath an atmosphere in which evaporation is excessively 
active, requires special skill to avoid misfortune, and tlie 
payment of those costly fees which experience demands 
when employed as a teacher. To recapitulate some of the 
most important points to be remembered, might be useful 
here. The first danger into which the inexperienced irri- 
gator falls, is usually the use of an excessive quantity of 
water, of a too frequent application of it. The copious- 
ness and frequency of the watering must depend upon 
the character of the soil and subsoil, to a very great ex- 
tent. A porous, sandy soil, with a similar subsoil, can 
hardly be injured by over-watering so long as stagnant 
water is not allowed to remain upon it, and it is sufficient- 
ly well fertilized to bear the vegetation which copious 
waterings would encourage. Saturation of the soil, long 
continued, would be fatal to almost every crop. A soil 
containing 80 per cent of sand, maybe copiously irrigated 
every five days without injury, while another containing 
but 20 per cent of sand, would not bear moderate irriga- 
tion more frequently than every 10 or 15 days. The 
watchful care of the cultivator must be exercised to keep 
the soil moist and mellow and no more. Over watering 
tends to bake the soil. Flooding the surface also tends 
to the same injurious eftect. Water should be applied 
in the evening, in preference to any other time, but on 
no account in the day during the prevalence of sunshine 
or a drying wind. A calm evening is the very best time 
to irrigate. The soil then dries upon the surface before 
morning, and the sun will not bake or crust the ground. 
During an occasional shower is a specially favorable time, 
and this opportunity should be seized and utilized without 
delay. The use of drills, or small water furrows, is pre* 



180 IRRIGATION. 

ferable to any other method of applying water. All cul- 
tivated crops should therefore be sown or planted in drills. 
Any crops, that may be "grown in ordinary cultivation, 
may be raised by irrigation, but there are some that 
flourish better under it than under ordinary culture. 
These are generally the broad -leafed crops, leguminous 
plants, and the grasses cultivated for fodder. Long tap- 
rooted plants, clover, lucern, carrots, all species of beets, 
and the cabbage tribe, especially thrive under irrigation. 
Cereals generally need but very little water after their in- 
florescence, and the quality of the grain is improved by 
its absence after fertilization has taken place. It is 
asserted by the French irrigators that the wheat crop is 
frequently injured by any watering at the time of blos- 
soming, and that at this critical season the water should 
be withdrawn, and again applied, for only a very short 
period, as the grain is swelling. Potatoes are injured in 
quality by overwatcring, and for this crop a soil of reten- 
tive character should be specially avoided. The satura- 
tion of the subsoil, during the period when the soil is 
bare of crops, as in the Fall and Winter, not only aids 
the Summer growth by furnishing a reservoir of moisture, 
but irrigation at these seasons brings to the soil consider- 
able access of fertility, especially when the water is deriv- 
ed from mountain streams. On the other hand, when 
the subsoil is strongly alkaline, as in some localities, con- 
tinuous and copious Winter irrigation will remove much 
of the excess of alkaline salts ; but alternate irrigation 
will not have this effect, for much of the alkaline matter 
will be brought back near the surface by capillary at- 
traction. 

There are large tracts of land, the subsoil of which is 
so thoroughly impregnated with alkali, as to render the 
surface hopelessly barren, except so far as they may bear 
a sparse vegetation of plants, the roots of which remain 
near the surface, and the quality of which unfits them 



IMPROVEMENT OF ALKALINE SOILS. 181 

for any use to the stock-raiser or farmer. These lands 
may easily be reclaimed by irrigation. Copious watering, 
continuously applied, will wash out the soluble alkali from 
the subsoil and render them arable. But the watering 
must be long continued, and at a season when evaporation 
is the least active. It is the evaporation of moisture from 
such soils, that brings to the surface the alkaline matter, 
where it effloresces and makes them appear as if covered 
with newly fallen snow or hoar frost. All this injurious 
matter, chiefly consisting of soda salts, may be removed 
through the subsoil by the continued action of irrigation, 
and washed into the rivers and the sea. The water 
charged with these salts, which in excess are destructive, 
but in moderate supply are helpful, may in fact be used 
over again on its passage down the rivers after it has 
emerged beneath the surface in hundreds of springs, 
upon new fields, which actually need this alkaline matter 
to make them fruitful. 

Another highly important consideration i:)resents itself. 
It is found that after a few years of irrigation, the soil 
requires the artificial application of less water ; that the 
atmosphere becomes more highly charged with moisture, 
and that the evaporation from the surface becomes, in 
consequence, less and less as years pass ; that the rainfall 
is increased, and that the supply of water becomes rela- 
tively more abundant, as the land needs less of it, and 
thus the area that may be irrigated, gradually increases. 
The low lands are also moistened by the surplus from the 
bench lands which percolates through them ; the soil be- 
comes charged with vegetable matter, and more retentive 
of water, and these effects react upon the climate. 

These effects have been more particularly noted in Utah, 
where irrigation has been longest in use, and where the 
growth of trees has been comparatively extensive. Al- 
ready the increase in the rainfall has become noticeable, 
and the level of Great Salt Lake has risen several feet, 



182 IRRIGATION. 

within the last few years. This, however, can occur only 
to a limited extent, as the physical features of the coun- 
try, upon which the peculiarities of the climate depend, 
must remain permanently as they are, and their effects 
must of course continue with them. But the intensity 
of the drouth, and of the hot, dry winds, will probably 
become ameliorated more and more, as the cultivation of 
the soil extends. 

The management of the various field crops under irri- 
gation, calls for some judgment, and a few general re- 
marks may be useful. 

Wheat. — This will always be the main crop wherever 
irrigation is generally used. A thorough soaking of the 
soil, some days before it is plowed, is advisable. It then 
turns up mellow and in fine condition for the seed. 
Where wheat is made to follow wheat, the seed may be 
sown upon the stubble, and a light furrow turned over it. 
Otherwise it would be preferable to drill in the seed, and 
immediately roll the land watli a corrugated roller, fig. 96, 
which leaves the surface covered with small channels, ad- 
mirably fitted for watering the crop. (This roller, as 
well as another kind for the same use, is described more 
fully in the next chapter.) If no rain should occur, or in 
localities wdiere rain is not to be looked for, a moderate 
watering may then be given before the soil has become 
dried. This will be sufficient to start the growth, after 
which moderate waterings, at intervals of seven to four- 
teen days, will be required, up to the time when the 
grain is heading. Then occurs the critical period, for 
overwatering may rust the crop ; and it is precisely here 
that the irrigator enjoys the advantage over the farmer 
who depends on rainfall exclusively, and frequently sees 
his hopes and his crop blasted together by unfavorable 
weather at the period of flowering. It may be that w^ater 
will be required as soon as the grain is beginning to form, 
but if the soil is at all moist, water may not be needed. 



L 



CULTURE OF WHEAT. 183 

This point so completely depends upon circumstances, 
that no rule can be given ; the novice who has never be- 
fore raised a crop of wheat, will lose less by erring upon 
the side of caution, and the farmer, used to grow wheat 
under the ordinary methods, will readily avoid what he 
knows to be injurious. It will not hurt a crop of wheat, 
if the ground should get dry occasionally, and excess of 
water encourages growth of straw at the expense of grain. 

Other Grains than wheat require very similar manage- 
ment. Oats will thrive with more copious watering, but 
barley needs care about the time of filling and ripening 
of the grain. The duration of a watering, for all the 
small grains, should not exceed 24 hours. 

Corn and Broom Corn. — Corn luxuriates beneath heat 
and moisture ; and for its rapid and healthful growth the 
soil should be kept moist. The plan adopted in the val- 
ley of the Po, in Italy, where maize is a very common 
and productive crop, is to plant in rows, and apply the 
water in the spaces between them. The corn may be 
planted in hills, and watered in a similar manner. As 
soon as the grain becomes glazed, the water may be with- 
drawn, and the ground dried for harvesting. Broom corn 
is managed similarly to maize, being kept regularly water- 
ed ; at the time of the heading out of the panicle, water 
is given plentifully to force a good growth of brush, and 
produce a smooth, long, straight fiber. The broom corn 
grown in Tulare Co. , Cal. , under irrigation, is found to 
be of the very best quality and color. As these crops re- 
quire frequent cultivation, the irrigation should be given 
at a sufficient time before this must be done, to permit 
the ground to become dry enough for proper working, but 
not too dry. The cultivation should follow the watering, 
and not the watering the cultivation ; then the soil is 
kept mellow and moist during a longer interval. Fodder 
corn requires copious watering. This crop is one that 
may be grown to advantage upon fields that are in course 



18 i IRRIGATION. 

of preparation for water meadows, or in rotation, when a 
meadow needs plowing and reseeding. 

Flax. — As this plant, ^hen grown for fiber, depends 
greatly for its value upon the length and fineness of the 
staple, and as it flourishes best upon cool, moist soils, it 
is one peculiarly well adapted for cultivation by irrigation. 
It may be sov/n in drills, nine inches apart, or if sown 
broadcast, the surface should be rolled with the corrugat- 
ed roller, forming furrows, either directly down, or diag- 
onally across, the slope of the field. 

Hsmp. — This crop is peculiarly adapted to irrigation, 
its yield and quality being both improved under this 
method of cultivation. The mode of culture is as fol- 
lows. The land is laid off, by the plow, into beds ot flat 
ridges, three feet wide, with intervals between them of 
one foot in width. The seed is sown upon these beds 
while the soil is moist from a previous irrigation. The 
spaces between the beds are left to provide room for hoe- 
ing and weeding the beds, and for pulling the male stalks 
as soon as the pollen has been shed, as well as for irriga- 
tion. Hemp is a plant in which the pollen and the seed 
are produced by different individuals, called respectively 
male, or s^-iminate, and female, or pistillate plants. As 
the male plants naturally soon die, long before the others 
are perfected, it is better to got them out of the way as 
soon as they have fulfilled their office of fertilizing the 
flowers of the other sex. After the e3ed has sprouted, 
water is given, but only in the spaces between the beds ; 
these are copiously flowed, so that the moisture may pen- 
etrate through every portion of the beds. The crop is 
irrigated every 10 days, at least, or still more frequently 
when necessary. The soil should always be kept moist, 
but at the same time it should not be saturated. Fre- 
quent, moderate irrigations, are employed to wdtliin four- 
teen days of the flowering, when the waterings cease. If 
the irrigation is continued during the floAvering, the fer- 



TOBACCO AND COTTON. 185 

tilization of the female flowers is weakened, and the 
product of seed decreased. The suspension of the water- 
ing leaves the spaces between the beds dry, for the pas- 
sage of the persons who pull out the male plants, which 
is done to give more room for the ripening of the seed 
upon those that are left. 

Tobacco. — This crop thrives well under irrigation. The 
method in use where tobacco is largely grown, is to plow 
the ground to a depth of seven inches, the manure hav- 
ing been previously incorporated with the soil by plowing. 
The ground is harrowed smoothly and leveled. Eidges 
are then thrown up, 18 inches apart from each other, and 
the surface between them is leveled. The beds are then 
watered by flooding the intervals, and the ground well 
soaked. As soon as the soil is dry enough, the plants are 
brought from the seed bed, and set out on the ridge, 18 
inches apart ; or more, if a large leafed variety is grown. 
The day following the planting, water is given, and re- 
peated in two or three days. Then an interval of twenty 
days occurs, in which no water is given, but the soil is 
hoed or cultivated. Then water is given every 14 days, 
or if the weather is very dry and warm, and the soil need 
it, water is turned on every 8 days. Hoeing is done 
when needed, after the watering. This is continued un- 
til the crop is ready for cutting. In every other respect 
the cultivation is the same as when irrigation is not used. 
Under irrigation a leaf of remarkably fine texture, and of 
a mild flavor and color may be grown. "Where the climate 
admits of it, two crops are grown in one year by means 
of irrigation. This is regularly done in Algeria. 

Cotton has been grown in Southern California, under 
irrigation, with success. It has been found that the 
peculiar needs of this crop, as regards its growth of stalk 
and leaf, the formation of bolls, and the season of ripen- 
ing, arc better supplied by irrigation than in any other 
way. But fev/ crops nocd ?.d little v/ater as cotton, and 



186 IKKIGATION. 

by caution in keeping the soil merely moist, and no more, 
the plant may be prevented from becoming stunted on 
the one hand, and on tlie other, the necessity for topping- 
it, to encourage boiling, may be obviated. The method 
of planting recommended is, to plow high ridges, or beds, 
4' I2 feet wide, in the centre of which a water furrow is 
made with a small plow. When the soil has been well 
soaked from these furrows, the earth is thrown into them 
from each side, a drill is opened above the moistened soil, 
and the seed sowu in it, and covered with the hoe, not 
more than one inch deep. If the soil has been well 
moistened, the seed germinates at once, and only one more 
irrigation is needed to mature the crop, unless on very 
light and open soil. The soil is plowed in February, and 
irrigated and planted in March. The usual methods of 
cultivation and hoeing arc practiced. 

Lucern or Alfalfa. — Leguminous plants will suffer from 
a3 copious irrigation as may be needed for grass or grain 
crops. Lucern or Alfalfa being one of the leguminosae 
must be irrigated with caution, lest the permanence of the 
crop be endangered. Its long tap roots penetrate deeply, 
and if much water is given, and the subsoil is at all re- 
tentive, they will die and rot, and the crop is but short- 
lived. The character of the soil should be ascertained 
before ground that is to be irrigated is sown with lucern. 
When this is known, the periods and amount of the irri- 
gation may be chosen with accuracy. In Central France, 
this crop is extensively grown, and yields amazingly under 
the warm sun and frequent waterings ; but in England, 
lucern does not succeed. It is peculiarly a crop of warm, 
dry climates, and in California it has been grown with 
the most satisfactory results, both upon reclaimed ^' tule" 
lands, and valley lands. It there requires watering from 
once a week to once a month, according to the character 
of the soil. As long as moisture is within reach of the 
roots, the surface may be left dry, but stagnant water in 



FODDER CROPS. 187 

the subsoil would be fatal to the crop, and must be care- 
fully avoided. Twelve to fifteen tons of fodder have been 
grown per acre, with four or five cuttings during the 
growing season, and a watering after each cutting. 

Clover is a plant that delights in a cool climate, and 
where lucern can be produced successfully, it would not 
be advisable to grow clover under irrigation in competition 
with it. Under partial irrigation, and where lucern is 
not a successful crop, it may be v/atered moderately at 
intervals of 10 to 14 days, according to the nature of the 
soil. 

Fodder Crops. — Mixed crops of oats and peas ; barley 
and tares, millet, or Hungarian grass, may be grown in 
succession during the whole year, where frosts Uo not 
occur, or during the summer elsewhere. By sowing in 
drills or forming water channels with the roller, as before 
described, water may be given with facility during the 
earlier stages of these crops. When the ground is hid- 
den by the herbage, no further watering is given. 

8org]ium. — As a fodder crop this plant cannot compete 
with corn ; but when grown for the manufacture of syrup, 
it yields largely when irrigated up to a certain point. 
Its growth is slow and weak at first, and at this stage it 
will need copious irrigation, so long as the soil is not 
saturated. Afterwards, when it has commenced its active 
growth, water should be given sparingly, otherwise the 
sap will be impaired in quality, No water is given to this 
crop for a month before cutting, unless from some unex- 
pected cause it is seen to suffer for want of it, and then 
only the most moderat3 watering is to be given. 

Sugar Beets. — When grown for sugar, this plant needs 
only moderate irrigation, and at lengthened intervals. 
The root fibers are very sensitive to excess of moisture, 
and a watering: during one night only, will be all that the 
plant will safely bear. Excessive growth is not compat- 
ible vv'ith a yield of rich saccharine juice, and a small solid 



188 IRIUGATION. 

root is the most profitable. This crop, if it is to be irri- 
gated, is 2)lanted in slig'litly raised beds, between wliieh 
tiie water is flowed, so ti].at it does not come in contact 
with the bulbs. When grown for stock, beets and man- 
gels may be more copiusly watered, until fully grown, 
when water may be wiuhheld while ripening is complet- 
ing. 

Teasels. — Although this is an uncommon crop, yet as it 
is grown under irrigation, as a twin crop with winter 
wheat, it is mentioned here. The manner of its cultiva- 
tion is, to sow it in alternate row^s, or drills, with the 
wheat, or broadcast mixed with the seed. As soon as the 
wheat is harvested, the ground is watered, and tlie irri- 
gation is repeated two or three times, the same season, 
and monthly the next season, up to a short time before 
the crop is ready for harvesting. 

In concluding this Chapter, it may be as well, at the 
risk of repetition, to observe, that in irrigation, the ob- 
ject is to supply simply the natural wants of the plants 
grown upon the land, and not to stimulate an undue or 
excessive growth, merely because we may suppose that 
w^e have the means to do this at our control. The pur- 
pose is to supply nutriment to the plants, and not to 
saturate the soil. The careful irrigator will study the 
peculiarities of the plants he cultivates, and the character 
of the soil he works with, as well as something of the 
natural laws of plant srrowth ; and apply his knowledge 
to his business, carefully, systematically, and judiciously; 
not proceedins: in a hap-hazard or a ^^mle-of -thumb" 
manner to deluge his soil with water, simply because he 
has paid for a certain quantity of it. 



HOW TO PKEPARE THE SUP-FACE. 189 

CHAPTER XYII. 

TREPARING THE SURFACE FOR IRRIGATION. 

The method of farming by irrigation is very simple and 
easy to learn. The principals upon which it is managed 
are summed up in the general laws that water always runs 
down hill, and that a certain quantity of it is needed for 
the growth of a plant. In preparing the ground for irri- 
gation, then, it is only necessary to remember these facts 
and conform the practice to them. The surface of a cul- 
tivated field should therefore be of slight slope, generally 
in one direction, and of an even, smooth character, free 
from irregularities or knolls. If, however, the chaiacter 
of the surface is such that it is variously inclined with 
irregular depressions, having a general course downw^ard 
from the level of the water supply, the courses of the 
distributing channels may be so laid out as to practicably 
reduce the whole field to a regular slope and make it very 
easily irrigated. In the first case, the water taken from 
the canals of supply will be brought into the main dis- 
tributing channels, the course of which will be down the 
slope ; directly, if the declivity is not too great, and 
diagonally if not more than three feet in a hundred. 
From these channels the water will be taken laterally in- 
to other channels, and from them spread over the ground. 
This plan being suitable only where the soil presents a 
plane surface, inclined from the canal downward, is ob- 
viously fitted for only a very few cases, for those m which 
the land is altoi^ether f ree from swells and variations from 
a level, are very rare naturally and not very common arti- 
ficially. 

Where, however, it is' possible so to prepare the land 
that this even plane surface can be secured, it will 
manifestly be the best and cheapest in the end, so to pre- 
pare it. The great majority of the river bottoms in those 



190 IRRIGATION. 

parts of the country where cultivation by irrigation is 
now practiced, and where it is destined to be largely ex- 
tended, admit of very easy preparation by plowing, har- 
rowing, scraping, and rolling. To plow these lands, a 
different system from that generally practiced should be 
adopted. The swivel plow is the best instrument for this 
purpose. With this plow, the furrows may be laid the 
same way over a whole field, and the ^Mands," more or 
le^s narrow, necessarily formed with the common plow 
are avoided. In plowing in '* lands" the alternate back 
furrows and open furrows leave a succession of ridges and 
hollows, which are inconvenient in irrigated fields, except 
in those cases in which the system of ''bedding" of the 
soil is adopted. In this case the water is carried along 
the summits of the lands, and flows in both directions to 
the open furrows on each side. This may be convenient- 
ly done when the general level is once secured. 

A good surface will be best secured by using the swivel 
plow, beginning by running a back furrow across the 
center of the field, carefully laid out exactly parallel to 
two of its sides — if the field is square — and equally dis- 
tant from each. The back furrow should be made by 
first throwing two furrows outward in opposite directions, 
leaving an open furrow on the line laid out. The plow is 
then driven through the center of the ridges thus cast 
out, splitting them and throwing the earth back into the 
open furrow. This method leaves no unplowed ground, 
and very much less ridge in the back furrow than any 
other manner of beginning the ''land." The plowing 
then proceeds in the usual manner, finishing one side of 
the field, and then the other. If care is taken to plow 
straight and even furro - s, the last furrow will leave a 
ditch along the boundary of the field, and close to it. 
There should be no baulks made in plowing an irrigated 
field, as the hard spots there left will not absorb water 
equally with the other portions, and the crop will suffer 



EXAMPLE OF IRRIGATEI/ FIELD. 191 

on those spots. It might be mentioned here that a very 
smooth, fine surface, is objectionable, as being very liable 
to bake under the hot sun after watering. A soil that is 
somewhat cloddy or lumpy, is not so apt to bake, and is 
preferable to a very fine one. The ground is then leveled 
with a scraper, the hollows filled v/ith earth from the 
ridges and swells, and as accurate a level as possible is 
secured. 

When the level surface has been procured, or where it 
is already sufficiencly level naturally, the course of the 
furrows is to be laid out with due regard to the position 
of the chief supply canal, and the foot drain by which 
any surplus of water is to be carried off. It is under- 
stood that the chief supply canal is made with as little 
fall as possible ; in practice, this should not exceed 3 feet 
per mile, and should not be less than one foot per mile. 
Trom this canal the primary, or main distributing ditches 
are made to diverge, and these should have a slope from 
3 to 8 feet per mile ; the medium slope of 4 to 5 feet per 
mile being preferable. From these primary ditches, 
secondary ditches are laid out, having the same slope, 
about 1,000 to 1,500 feet apart, when a large tract is to 
be brought under irrigation ; a distance of one fourth of 
a mile, or 1,320 feet, is a very convenient distance, as it is 
equal to the size of a 40 acre lot, and divides an 80 or 160 
acre tract into equal portions. A catch-water ditch should 
be laid out parallel to the primary ditch, at about 2,000 
to 3,000 feet distant from it ; a half mile, or 2,640 feet, 
is a very suita,ble distance, as there would then be 160 
acres, or two 80 acre farms in the enclosed quadrangle. 

As an illustration might be represented a plot of an ir- 
rigation system, belonging to the San Joaquin and Kings 
River Canal in California, as described in the report to 
Congress of the Commission for the examination of the 
valleys of California. This is shown in the diagram, fig. 
81. The main supply canal has a fall of a foot in the 



192 



IREIGATION. 



mile, the ground under irrigation sloping 8 feet to the 
mile. The dotted contour lines in the plot represent each 
foot of slope upon the ground. The water is delivered 
from the main canal into^the primary distributing ditch, 
at A, D, flowing in tlie direction of the arrow. This 
ditch has a slope of 8 feet to the mile. From these 
ditches it flows into the secondary ditches, A B, D F, 

JL 




Fig. 81.— PLOT OF IRRIGATED FIELD, 

(which have a slope of 5 feet to the mile), through 
gates at A, and D, into the catch-water ditches, B, F, 
from which it flows into other series of secondary ditches 
beyond. Gates are established in the secondary ditches, 
midway of their length, as at C, and E. 

The subdivision of the plot is as follows : Furrows 
made with the plow or with a ditching machine, which 
finishes a perfect water furrow at one operation, are run 



PLAN OF AN IRRIGATED FIELD. 193 

at intervals of 120 feet apart, parallel to the primary 
ditch, and down the slope of 8 feet to the mile. These 
are shown by the single dark lines. Other furrows are 
made parallel to the secondary ditch, and 158 feet apart. 
These shown by the dotted lines are called check furrows. 
The secondary ditches are made large enough to supply 
11 of these first furrows, each of which communicates 
with the secondary ditch, by means of a box, such as is 
shown at fig. 61, (page 128), placed in the bank as seen 
in the engraving, and opened and shut by a slide at the 
head of each. When the gate at C is closed, the water 
is turned into 11 of these boxes, and from them into the 
connected furrows. The first check furrow stops the 
flow, and dams the water back over the si3ace of 165 feet 
above it. As the slope of the ground is 8 feet to the 
mile, the slope of the interval now covered with water is 
nearly 3 inches, and the water must consequently be 3 
inches deep at the check furrow before the upper portion 
of the interval is watered. (Here a fault in the lay-out 
is seen at first sight, because from the rapid absorption 
of the water by the soil, either the lower portion must be 
watered to excess, or the upper portion be left without a 
sufficient supply. It is evident that this fault would be 
obviated by making the check furrows nearer together, 
say 50 or 60 feet, when the ground would be more quick- 
ly covered, and more evenly watered. It is true that 
some of the water would soak through the check furrow 
on to the upper portion of the interval below it ; but this 
would be an irregular and entirely a too hazardous pro- 
ceeding to be adopted by a careful irrigator, and one that 
would be excessively wasteful, both of water and crop. ) 
When the interval has been watered sufficiently, the 
check furrow is opened with the hoe at each main fur- 
row, and the second strip is watered. The process is re- 
peated until this half of the plot has been watered. The 
boxes are then closed ; the gate at C is opened, and the 



194 



IKRIGATIOX. 



other part of the plot is irrigated in the same manner. 
The size required for the secondary ditch, or rather that 
of the gate at A,hj which the ditch is sui^plied, must be 
proportioned to the quantity of land irrigated by it. If 
the plot is IGO acres, the gate should have an area of at 
least 144 square inches, if the flow is continual, and a 
proportionately larger area if the flow is intermittent. 
The size of the boxes should be in proportion, or 14:'\^ 
square inches for each inside measurement. A box 7' 1^ 
inches wide by 5 inches deep inside measure, and having 




Fig. 83.— PLAN OF FURROWS FOR AN IRREGULAR SURFACE. 

a gate or slide to open 2 inches, would give M'l^ square 
inches of water under a head of 3 inches, which is a usual 
arrangement for supply. 

This plan is an excellent one, and pointed out as an 
illustration of ordinary irrigation, could hardly be excelled. 
With modifications, it offers a method of preparing the 
surface of gently sloping ground that is applicable to a 
wide diversity of instances. 

The plot given in the illustration is drawn to ccalc of 



IRREGULAR SURFACES. 195 

960 feet to an inch, and represents a plot of 80 acres, 
being 2,640 feet, (half a mile), in length, having 22 fur- 
rows, 120 feet apart, in that direction ; and 1,320 feet, 
(quarter of a mile), in width, and having 8 check fur- 
rows, 165 feet apart, in this direction. 
' For those cases in Avhich an irregular surface cannot he 
avoided the arrangement of the water furrows is difCereut. 
For a field which slopes on either side from a central 
ridge the arrangement is made as follows : (See fig. 82. ) 

The water is brought from the main primary ditch, 
on to the highest portion of the ridge. From this it is 
carried by a principal furrow along the ridge, and then 
by other furrows, a, a, on each side down the slope, and 
from those into distributing furrows, c, c, nearly parallel 
with the main furrow, and in the manner before describ- 
ed for the bedding system applied to gardens. Thus the 
water flows down the slope on each side in a series of 
channels provided for it, according to the circumstances 
or necessities of each case. 

Where the surface is irregular in every direction, it is 
necessary to discover by careful leveling the course to be 
taken by each main distributing canal, which should be 
made the boundary line between the fields on either hand, 
and will therefore be a permanent construction. The 
course of the canal will be such as to give it the least 
possible slope, so that none of the head of water may be 
lost in distributing it from the end of the canal. It is 
obvious that this course should be laid out with great 
care and exactness, lest by losing some of the head, some 
portion of the land should be left without water. This 
work should be done either by a competent surveyor, or 
by the assistance of instruments in the hands of the 
farmer competent to use them. There is no particular 
skill required to do this ; it is rather a work that calls for 
extreme care and patient verification. The instrument 
used may be a surveyor's field or portable level, which will 



196 IKRIGAJION. 

answer every purpose for light and not very accarate work. 
A very portable and convenient level, small enough to be 
carried in the coat pocket, has been found by the author 
of very great use in making preliminary surveys. It is 
known as Locke's hand -level, and is shown in fig. 83. 
Very accurate levels may be taken by using this instru- 
ment in the following manner. A rod is provided, hav- 
ing a blunt foot, that will rest upon the ground, and not 
sink in soft soil, and of such a graduated length that it 
will reach 3omfortably to a higlit equal to that of the 
eye of the person using it. The top of this resting rod 
is slightly notched, so that the level will rest easily upon 
it. By having the sighting rod marked at exactly the 
same length from the foot as that of the resting rod, and 
gauged up and down from this mark, (which should be an 




F'vj;. 83.— LOCKE'S HAND-LEVEL. 

0), the variations from the level may be taken with the 
greatest readiness, and with sufficient accuracy for pre- 
liminary work, or for a survey, where complete exactitude 
is not required. Any slight errors that may be made will 
balance each other, and in the aggregate there will be very 
little variation from a true level in a line of some miles 
in length. In the illustration the side of the level is 
represented as broken away, to show the mirror in the 
interior which reflects the bubble and the cross-bar in the 
center. The bubble is seen at the top of the level. 

The Architect's level, fig. 84, made by W. &L. E. Gur- 
ley, of Troy, IST. Y., is a more costly and complete level, 
but a very simple, compact, and serviceable one. It has 
a telescope 11 inches long, with the usual cross wires, 
with adjustment of eye and object tubes. It may be 
mounted on a Jacob-staff, or a tripod ; but for sighting 



INSTRUMENTS FOR LEVELING. 



197 



along such work as irrigating canals and embankments it 
may be placed upon a three cornered plate of iron, or a 
trivet, standing upon three pins, by which it may be firm- 




Fig. 84. — gurlet's level. 

ly set upon a piece of wood, earth, or a stone. A tripod 
and the trivet is furnished with the level by the makers, 
for the very reasonable price of 135. A leveling rod with 
target is 15 extra. 

An instrument much used by French irrigators is thus 
made : Two pieces of 
wood, 1^1, inch wide 
by 1 inch thick and 10 
feet long, are pinned 
together at one end, 
forming an angle, the 
base of which spreads 
exactly 16^1, feet. This 
gives a hight of the 
of about 5M„ feet. 




-HOME-MADE LEVEL. 



Fig. 85. 

apex or joint from the ground 
The arms are fixed in their proper 
position by a cross-piece at about S'l^ feet from the base, 
and fixed exactly parallel to it. The end of each arm is 



198 



IRRIGATION. 



pointed and protected by a metal ring or ferule, and a 
pointed iron piu is inserted. The implement is something 
like a large pair of compasses with a spread of 16' 1^ feet 
between the points. See fig. 85. This distance is not 
arbitrary, but may be varied to 10, 12, or even less feet, 
but more would be inconvenient. But 16' 1^ feet being 
exactly one rod, the level may at other times answer for 
a measurer of distances conveniently, if made of this 
size. A spirit level is placed on the cross-bar, see fig. 86, 
care being taken to place it exactly parallel to the line 




86. — AERANGEMENT OF THE SPIRIT LEVEL. 



between the bottom pins, and to verify the parallelism by 
reversing the position of the implement as it stands upon 
the ground upon a spot shown to be level by its first 
position. There is no difficulty in getting the level 
exactly placed to one who understands the use of the 
spirit level, but unless it is placed exactly the implement 
will be useless. To use the implement, a wooden plug is 
driven in the ground, level with the surface, 
at a point where the canal is to start from. One 
of the legs of the level is placed upon the plug 
and the other forward in the direction in which 
the water is to flow, and from one side to an- 
other, until a point is found which is level with 
the starting point. A plug is then driven into 
the ground at the second point. If the fall has 
Fig. 87. been fixed at one foot in 1,000 feet, which is the 
most advisable for distributing furrows or canals, the sec- 
ond plug should be placed a fifth of an inch below the level 
of the first. This may easily be done with accuracy by 
cutting off with a saw, one-half of the top of the plug 
one-fifth of an inch below the other half, when they are 
prepared for use. Figure 87. Then when the higher 



BOW FUEROWS ARE MADE. 199 

half is placed on a level with the lower half of 
the preceding plug, the lower half will be exactly in 
position to receive the leg of the level to lay out the nest 
space. In this way the ground is gone over until the 
whole line is laid out and the end is reached. From 
these trial contour lines furrows may be traced and laid 
out, using pegs, in the same manner as before, and 
a plow to make furrows, following the line of the 
pegs. Or one man using the level nearly as fast as he 
can walk, may be followed by a boy or another man with 
a hoe made for this purpose, with a blade 18 inches in 
width, with which a furrow is rapidly opened, almost 
as fast as the line can be laid out. The distributing fur- 
rows may be laid out in straight lines across the contour 
lines, see fig. 82, which will save labor. The main canal, 
a, a, fig. 82, passes along the highest j^art of the field. 
The contour lines, which are the lines of level, see dotted 
lines h, h, are run from the canal on either side and 
meander with the irregularities of the surface. To avoid 
the meandering of the distributing furrows, they are 
made to run in straight lines from the canal, cutting 
across the contour lines with what fall may be found 
necessary ; these furrows are shown at c, c, c. By regu- 
lating the supply of water so that all is absorbed, none 
need go to waste. But it would be safe to run a drainage 
furrow to carry off any accidental surplus across the lowest 
portions of the distributing canals, as shown by the dark 
lines, d, d. 

When the furrows are properly leveled, the soil may be 
watered, either by saturation from the furrows down- 
wards, in the case of steep hill sides, or by tapping the 
furrows, and causing the water to escape downwards from 
them. The method of watering lands of considerable 
slope ; that is, of more than five feet in a hundred, or ten 
inches in 16 feet, must be different from that previously 
described in \hi% chapter, or by flooding ; on the contrary 



200 IRRIGATION'. 

the water must be led downwards from the furrow in a 
thin sheet or in numerous trickUn^ streams, which may 
be made to cover the intervals between the furrows. 
There will be, however, some instances, and in time, after 
the best of the irrigable lands have been occupied, the 
majority of the tracts* left will be of this character, in 
which the surface will offer more than usual difficulties 
in the way of preparation for irrigation. These tracts 
referred to are hilly lands, or so called foot hills ; high 
prairie lands or bluffs bordering the more tractable river 





Fig. 88.— IMPROVEMENT OF A HILL-SIDE. 

bottoms and valleys. The surfaces of such lands are in 
general cut up with hollows, ravines, gulleys, and similar 
irregularities of a somewhat miniature character, but 
which nevertheless offer obstacles to the passage of water 
channels ; or there may be aprupt declines and rounded 
protuberances, which will require modifying to some ex- 
tent. By some system of preparation all such lands may 
be brought under irrigation, and a few typical cases are 



Fig. 89.— MANNER OF FILLING A GULLET. 

here referred to with the requisite treatment. A profile 
of a hill too steep in one portion to be irrigated, is repre- 
sented by the dotted lines in fig. 88. The rounded out- 
line, a, h, c, offers an obstruction to both water furrows 
and the passage of men or animals. By cutting away 
the projecting portion at l, and depositing it in tbe bot- 



IMPROVE-MENT OF IlILL-SIDES. 201 

torn at c, the outline, as shown by the dark line, is made 
passable and easy to irrigate by the method applicable to 
lands of considerable slope, (see figures 73 and 74 with 
accompanying descriptions), or by that described in the 
preceding paragraph. A gulley or a hollow in a moderate- 
ly sloping surface is shown by the dotted line in fig. 89. 
This difficulty is removed by taking away the portions 
above the dark fine, and depositing them in the hollow 
beneath it ; thus bringing the new surface into conform- 
ity with that surrounding it, and producing an easy slope. 
In case the surface soil is thin and the subsoil poor, it 
will be necessary to first remove the surface soil from both 
the portion to be covered, and that to be moved, and 
place it on one side. When the leveUng is finished, the 




Fig. 1!0.— TERRA.CraG A HILL-SIDE. 

surface soil is returned and the subsoil covered with it as 
before. There are frequent hill-sides, all through the 
country, which offer no impediment to a destructive flow 
of water down their slopes, and unsightly and incon- 
venient gulleys and wash-outs are caused by this unob- 
structed flow. The terracing of such slopes would pre- 
vent the destructive wasting, and would render them 
, amenable to easy irrigation, either by surplus rain water 
collected from the slopes in reservoirs, or by water brought 
to them by elevation or otherwise. Fig. 90 is intended 
to represent such a hillside. The original profile is shown 
by the dotted line, and the terraced outline by the dark 
line. This work may be done almost wholly by the plow, 
and in difficult cases partly by the plow, and partly by 
the ordinary horse-shovel. Upon the remodelled surface 



202 IRRIGATIOX. 

the water is retained, instead of flowing in streams use- 
lessly and destructively down the slope, and sinks into 
the soil moistening the whole as it percolates through 
the subsoil and again reaches the light, lower down. Or 
the terraces may be so arranged as to lead the rain water 
into a reservoir, where it may be stored, and used to irri- 
gate the lower portion of the slope in the drier part of 

the season. 

As the preservation of a level or smoothly sloping sur- 
face is the main point in preparing the soil for irrigation, 
it is important to have implements well adapted to this 
necessary work, and also to prepare furrows quickly and 
perfectly. There is no need for costly implements, but 
very effective ones may be constructed with little labor 
and skill. To level the ground is the first work after 
plowing and pulverizing the surface. To do this cheaply, 
a scraper that can be operated by horse-power is needed. 
One upon which the operator can ride would be most con- 
venient, as the work may then be overlooked with ease, 
and tie weight of the rider would add to the effectiveness 
of the implement. A horse-scraper, much used in Cali- 
fornia for leveling ground plowed for irrigation, consists of 
a frame, 4 feet wide and 6 feet long, mounted upon a pair 
of low wheels, and constructed of planks, upon which the 
driver rides. A tongue is fixed to the central part of the 
frame, by which the machine is drawn along. A scraper 
is fixed to the front of the frame in a perpendicular or 
a sloping direction, as may be desired. Handles, or guides, 
are fixed to the scraper, by which this direction is govern- 
ed. The scraper is a plank, 12 feet long and a foot and 
a half wide, shod at the bottom edge by a steel shoe. A 
half circular, flat, iron bar is bolted to the front of the 
scraper and passes through an iron strap fixed beneath 
the tongue. The bar is pierced with a number of holes, 
and a hole is made through the tongue so that an iron 
pin may be passed through both tongue and bar. By 



LEVELING THE SURFACE. 



203 



means of this contrivance the plank may be moved from 
a straight to a diagonal direction across the path traveled, 
and the earth is consequently drawn forward or thrown 




Fig. 91.— EARTH-SCRAPER. 

off to one side, or both together. In this way a newly 
plowed field is leveled very quickly, and is easily prepared 
for furrowing. A scraper very easily made is shown at 



-p 


n 


R 


H^ 








• 






B 




^R 


n 


n 


R~ 






• 





n 




Fig. 92.— FRENCH SCRAPER. 



fig. 91. It consists of a central plank and two other 
planks hinged to it as wings, and adjusted in different 



204 



IRRIGATION. 



positions, and so held by means of strong braces. It is 
shod with steel, and is furnished with a tongue for draft. 
By adjusting the wings' the earth may be scraped in 
different ways, as may be desired ; and ridges may be 
formed by it, by proper adjustment of the wings and 
shape of the central plank. Another implement for this 
purpose is used among the French and Italian irrigators, 
which is very effective, and is employed as frequently as 



A 3 

Fig. 93.~FORM OF SCUAPER. 

the plow. It consists of a frame, seen at fig. 92, of 
timber bolted or mortised together, and braced with two 
diagonal braces at the front. It is generally square in 
shape and admits of being made of any suitable size. 
Two cross-pieces. A, and B, are provided with metal 
shoes, similar in shape to plane-irons, which project 

beneath the surface, as shown 
at figs. 93, and 94. As the 
machine is drawn across the 
field the scrapers take off every 
protuberance, and dcj^osit the 
loosened soil in the hollows, 
and in time, by passing across 
the field in different direc- 
tions, a perfect level is gained. 
To enable this machine to be 
transported from place to 
place more readily, the upper side of the side-pieces may 
be provided with shoes made of light bar-iron, affixed in 
the manner shown at fig. 95. When it is to be moved from 
the field it is simply turned over, and glides over the soil 
upon these shoes. As the implement will be in constant 
use it should be stoutly made and carefully preserved. 
When a smooth, level surface has been obtained, the seed 




. 94.— ENLARGED VIEW. 



BOLLEKS. 



205 



sown and the field harrowed, the soil may be furrowed by 
passing over it in the direction in which the water is to 
flow upon it, a roller provided with corrugations upon 
its surface, each of which leaves a small distributinf{ fur- 
row. See fig. 00. This roller may be made of cast iron 
disks, 18 inches or more in diameter, and of such a thick- 



\ 



^ -r^ 



Fig. 95. — SCRAPER IMTERTED. 

ness as may conform to the distance between the furrows, 
or the disks may be made of sand and cement, forming 
in reality artificial stone. The cement may be shaped in 
wooden molds. These disks will have holes two inches 
in diameter through their centers, through which an axle, 
consisting of rolled-iron bar or shaft, may be placed. 
The axle may be fixed at the ends in a wooden frame, 
provided with a tongue for draft. By such a method of 
construction suflBcient weight may be secured to compact 
the soil and make the furrows durable, xinother form of 




9G. — COKIiUGATED ROLLER. 



roller is shown at fig. 07. This may be made of circular 
sections of oak plank, .30 inches in diameter, with others 
placed alternately with these, of 36 inches in diameter. 
These sections may all be independent of each other, but 
it will be more convenient if they are in pairs or triplets ; 
for the reason that it will be necessary to make these 



206 



IRRIGATION. 



sections of several pieces, and it will be easy to bolt them 
together by crossing the pieces of one section upon those 
of another, or two more. , The most desirable plan will 
probably be to make them in triplets in the manner shown 

Hl-ilil 



m 




Fig. 97.— SECTION BOLLEB. 

in fig. 98, the dotted lines showing the manner in which 
the joints of each section cross those of the others. 
These sections may be placed upon an axle, as previously 
described, and provided with a frame, upon which there 
may be a seat for the driver. Various other forms of 

rollers may be devised which 
will answer the purpose of 
making furrows for those 
crops that cover the ground 
entirely, and which are sown 
either in narrow drills or 
broadcast. For such crops 
it might be desirable to make 
the drills, as well as the dis- 
tributing furrow, to run in 
an east and Vv'est direction 
when this is practicable. 
The ground will thus be 
shaded from the southern sun by the growing crop, and 
the moistened furrows will be protected from a too rapid 
evaporation. The furrows may be made to traverse the 
ground between the drills, leaving the drills and furrows 
alternate. 




Fiff. 98.— FORM OF SECTION. 



DAMS. 207 

It is obvious that the use of the rollers here suggested 
is only applicable to the grain crops, and not for those 
that are to be cultivated. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE SUPPLY OF WATER.— DAMS.— PUMPS.— RESERVOIRS.— 
ARTESIAN WELLS. 

Dams. — For extensive irrigation, the available supply 
of water can be found only in permanent streams ; large 
and copious wells, from which the water is raised by 
pumps of great capacity, operated by steam, or in ex- 
tensive reservoirs, in which the drainage of large areas 
of mountain territory is collected. No dependence can 
be placed upon artesian wells, though the contrary has 
been erroneously taught by some writers having a limited 
acquaintance with this subject. This expectation has 
been shown in a previous chapter, to be delusive, both on 
account of the limited supply of water that can be thus 
obtained, and the costliness of the system. For excep- 
tional cases, these wells may be employed with profit. 
These cases will be found to exist where extensive water- 
bearing strata are depressed in a basin shaped area, at a 
moderate depth beneath the surface, so that a copious 
and permanent supply can be procured at a moderate 
cost, and where the area to be irrigated is small. The * 
futility of depending upon artesian wells, in other cases 
than those above cited, will be evident when the principle 
upon which they operate, is explained further on in this 
chapter. 

For the present, and for many years to come the main 



208 



lEEIGATION. 



supply for irrigation will be derived from streams. The 
water, in most cases, will be taken directly from the 
stream at its regular level, by means of a main supply 
canal, iuto which it is diverted by the ordinary flow, or 
by means of wing drains placed in the stream ; or else 
the level of the stream must be raised by a dam, and the 
flow diverted at a higher level than the usual one. It is 
always advisable, in fact necessary when profit is the main 
purpose, to choose such a location for the commencement 
of the canal as shall give the greatest possible head of 
water. The cost of a few miles of canal may be in- 
significant, as compared with the value of several thousand 
acres of land that may be brought under irrigation, by 
adding a foot to the head of the supply. But a dam may 
often be constructed at a much less cost than would be 




Fig. 99. — LONGITUDESfAL WING DAM. 

necessary to carry a large canal a distance of even a 
thousand feet. If the level needs to be raised but a few 
feet, a "wing dam may be constructed. This should be 
placed where the level of the stream falls sufficiently, 
and should be carried up the stream, at a convenient 
distance from the bank, as far as may be necessary to 
raise the water to the hight required. 

The manner of constructing the wing dam will vary 
according to the character of the stream, the nature of 
the river bed, and the materials to be most conveniently 
procured. The typical form of the dam is shown at fig. 
99, in which the structure is seen projected up the 



CONSTELCTION OF DAMS. 209 

stream to a point at which, the required level is reached. 
This point should be found by careful survey, before any 
work is done, because the strength and size of the dam 
must be proportioned to the pressure of the water con- 
tained within it, and this is in a ratio with the hight of 
head of the confined portion of the stream. This kind 
of dam very rarely requires elaborate construction, but as 
it is exposed to frequent erosive washing by the stream, 
in floods, it should be built of such materials as are 
known to bind well together. When but little head is 
required, a very simple dam of brush, stone, and earth, 
will be sufficient. The work is commenced at the head of 
the canal, which is first excavated to the proper depth, 
up to the river bank where the head-gate is, (see a in the 
figure), properly constructed. The building of the wing 
dam is carried up the stream from this point. A few 
piles driven into the river bed, three feet ap:irt in a double 
row would be advisable at this point, and for such a dis- 
tance up the stream as may seem proper, as this point of 
the dam is exposed to the greatest pressure, and is gener- 
ally the weakest ; for the reason that in all earth-work 
the junction of the old and new material is the most 
difficult to consolidate evenly. If brush is to be con- 
veniently procured, it may be interwoven between the 
piles of each row, and rammed down compactly. Cross- 
ties may be bolted or pinned to the piles, to prevent them 
from spreading, and earth is then thrown between them. 
Brush should be placed between the rows of piles, and 
the brush should be placed so that the buts lie down 
stream, and the fine part in the contrary direction. As 
the earth is dumped into the dam it will cover the brush. 
Afterwards coarse gravel or stone may be used to fill on 
the outside. In this manner the dam is carried onwards 
to the extremity where brush covered with eartli will be 
sufficient to divert the current where the difference 
between the levels is but slid: \ 



210 IRRIGATION. 

Where a more substantial construction is needed, or 
where the current is so swift that loose earth would be 
carried away, the method of construction will be differ- 
ent. Crib work would then be required, or else the pil- 
ing should be continued to the end, and should be of a 
substantial character. The pihng, or the cribs, should be 
connected by stringers and cross-ties, and the vacancies 
may be filled with brush and stone. It is not always 
necessary that the dam be absolutely tight, as if it were 
one of the usual kind ; if it diverts a sufficient quantity 
of water, that is all that is required. But a tight dam 
may be made in this manner, if the cribs, or the space 
between the piles are filled with brush and stone, and 
earth be thrown upon the inner side of the dam. Then 




100.— CROSS-WING DAM. 



the cribs, or piling, serve as supports to the dam, and the 
earth serves to confine the water. In some cases wing 
dams of a different form may be used. Where, for in- 
stance, a longitudinal dam would need to be of extreme 
length, because of the inadequate fall of the stream, and 
where it is desirable to avoid closing the stream entirely, 
cross-wing dams maybe constructed in the manner shown 
at fig. 100. Here partial dams of crib work, or piles, 
filled in with stone ; or dams of logs, brush, and earth, 
are thrown into the stream, from each, side, but not upon 
the same line, so that when each reaches the middle, an 
open space it left through which a portion of the water 
escai)es in a rapid. The distance between the ends of 



SOME NECESSARY CONSIDERATIONS. 211 

the dams requires to be arranged so as to raise the level 
of the water above them to a sufficient hight, and yet 
leave an open passage with a current that may not be in- 
surmountable to vessels or boats navigating the stream. 

When dams of the ordinary construction are required, 
it may be necessary to consider, before the work is begun, 
the principles upon which their stability is founded. 
This is more especially necessary, when the work is of 
any considerable magnitude, and where a failure may in- 
volve the loss of the money spent, and much direct and 
indirect damage besides. The chief points for consider- 
ation in this regard are, the position of the dam in the 
stream ; the material of which it is to be made ; the form 
most consistent with permanence and stability ; and the 
manner of its construction. 

The position of the dam has reference only to its 
power of resisting the pressure of the water behind it. 
No increase of the flow of water into the canal, or lateral, 
ca,n be gained by placing a dam in a diagonal position 
across the stream, instead of at right angles to the banks, 
as has been stated by some who have written upon this 
subject in the public journals. As an instance of the in- 
correct and misleading notions thus spread abroad, by un- 
informed writers, might be cited the following from an 
article on *' Practical Irrigation in Colorado," published 
in the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1871. 
The writer says, ^^it has been contended that the stagna- 
tion of water extends to a sensible hight, above the 
horizontal line of the regurgitation from the dam or 
sluice, or any other fixed obstacle. TJiis is accounted for 
hy the compressio7i or closer adhesion of the particles of the 
water. ^^ Again he says, ^^if you confine the water, and 
divert it from its natural course, \jou may compress it into 
a smaller space ; but the same quantity will be found be- 
low the compression, as is found above it!" Now, it 
ought to be known that water is practically incompressible. 



2ia IRRIGATION. 

and rather than submit to pressure, its particles may be 
forced through the infinitely small pores of cast iron, if 
the iron is strong enough to resist the enormous pressure 
required. So many instances of this property of water 
are supposed to be popularly known, that a statement 
to the contrary not only misleads and confuses those who 
read it, but tends to cast doubt and suspicion upon what- 
ever else the writer may say. 

To expect, therefore, that by the use of diverging 
entrances to a canal, or by the use of a funnel-shaped 
sluice, a larger quantity of water may be forced into a 
channel, will be found fallacious, and will lead to disap- 
pointment. A funnel-shaped box will pass no more water 
through it, than can be passed through another with 
straight sides, and of the same diameter as the narrow 
throat of the funnel, unless the inclination is changed 
and the velocity increased. This is an established prin- 
ciple of hydraulics. Other principles of hydraulics, which 
relate to the construction and use of dams, are, that the 
pressure of water is equal in all directions ; that it is 
exerted only in proportion to the hight and area of the 
base of the column of water resting upon a given space ; 
that water will always seek and maintain an exact level, 
and that the disturbance of the level sets it into im- 
mediate motion. 

The pressure of a body of water upon a perpendicular 
wall, a dam, or any other obstacle to its flow, is exerted 
to force it forwards in the direction of the stream. A 
dam placed directly across the stream is, therefore, weak 
and faulty. It will be rendered very much stronger by 
being placed across the stream in a curved, or angular, 
form, with its apex towards the resistance, and giving it 
somewhat the shape, and consequent strength, of an arch. 
The material of the dam should be selected for its im- 
permeability to water, and for its more perfect capacity 
for binding together, and resisting disintegration. There 



BEST FORM FOR DAMS. 213 

is no better material for a dam than earth which contains 
a large proportion of clay, with enough sand intimately 
mixed in the mass to make it easily worked, and closely 
compacted. But dams may be made of rock and timber, 
as well as of earth, the former materials being selected, 
when the work needs to be of the most substantial 
character, to enable it to resist the wearing action of 
strong and heavy currents of water which would tear 
away an earth work in a short time. Where this contin- 
gency is likely to occur, only timber or rock should be 
used, and the manner of construction should be left to 
the direction of a practical engineer. For a w^ork of 
timber, cribbing filled in and backed with rock, and 
planked thoroughly well, will be found very substantial 
and satisfactory. There are many different kinds and 
forms of cribs with which the hydraulic engineer is 
familiar, of which those may bo selected that will meet 
the particular features of the cases requiring them, and 
which for want of sjDace cannot be referred to here. A 
few will be described further on, of those only which 
may be found useful to the irrigator who desires to per- 
form his own engineering, and in cases where professional 
assistance may not be required. 

Upon the form of the dam w^ill depend, in a very great 
measure, its strength and stability, for it is evident that 
the form has much to do with its power of resisting the 
enormous pressure bearing upon it, and which is always 
exerted either to overthrow it or to push it from its 
foundation. Further than this, the form of a dam should 
be such as will best resist the wearing and abrading action 
of the water. A typical form of a perfect dam is shown 
at fig. 101. The reasons why such a form is best adapted 
for its purpose may be briefly stated as follows : 

It is evident that a structure, intended to sustain a 
pressure of a body of water, can fail only in two ways, if 
its solidity is preserved from disintegration by the wear- 



214 IRRIGATION. 

ing actions of currents. These are — either by being 
overturned by the horizontal pressure of the water, or by 
being forced from its jJosition bodily by sliding upon its 
base. The first alternative may be examined by con- 
sidering what power a certain structure — a vertical wall 
for instance — exercises to resist the pressure of water, and 
what the pressure amounts to for a certain hight. The 
pressure of water upon any surface immersed in it, is 
equal to the area of the surface multiplied by the depth 
of its center of gravity below the level of the water, and 
by the Aveight of a unit of water. The unit adopted in 
these calculations is a foot, and a cubic foot of water 
weighs 62' I2 pounds. The resulting pressure is therefore 




FijJ^. 101.— GENERAIi FORM OF DAM. 

readily found. Let it be supposed that a wall 10 feet 
high is sustaining a body of water behind it, as shown in 
fig. 102. One foot in length of the wall is taken as a 
basis for the calculation. There is then 10 square feet 
subject to pressure ; the depth of the center of gravity 
is 5 feet ; and the weight of a foot of water is 62' 1^ pounds. 
The product of these numbers is 3,125, which is the 
number of pounds pressing upon one foot in length of 
the wall. But this pressure, in this case, is not evenly 
distributed over the whole w^all, but in consequence of the 
mobility of the wat3r, the pressure is so distributed as to 
be equal to, and to operate as, a single force acting at a 
point one-third of the hight of the wall from the bot- 
tom. For this reason the product previously arrived at 
should be multiplied by one-third of the hight, or 3' I3, 
which will give as the total pressure exerted to overthrow 
or push forward the wall, 10,406 pounds on every foot in 



THEORY OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION. 



215 



length. To resist this, there is nothing hut the weight 
of the wall, and as we have already the length and hight, 
the thickness only is needed to give the required resist- 
ance. The rule for finding this, or to he more precise, 
for finding the required weight of the wall for its stabil- 
ity, is to multiply together the hight of the wall in feet, 
by half the thickness, and by 112, the weight in pounds 
of a cubic foot of masonry, and divide the amount of 
pressure, previously ascertained, (10,406), by the sum 
given. In this case we get 4'| 3 feet as the required thick- 
ness of the structure. 

It is evident that this supposed case is one of the weak- 
est illustrations that could be chosen, because a wall of 




^^^^^^^^^^^5^555^ 



Fig. 102. 

this character is poorly calculated to resist the pressure. 
But it is a perfectly safe method of calculation, because 
all the errors are on the right side. If we take ofp a 
portion of the upper part of the wall, and place it at the 
bottom, as shown by the dotted line in the illustration, 
fig. 102, it is clear that we remove some weight from a 
point where it is not needed, and put it where it will give 
much greater resistance, both to oversetting, and dis- 
placing ; removing the point upon which the wall must 
turn in case of overthrow, and therefore increasing the 



216 IRRIGATION. 

leverage, and conseqnen: resistance, and also greatly 
adding to the tendency to resist sliding. The more this 
weight at the bottom is increased, the stronger, there- 
fore, is the dam. This principle of calculation applied 
to a bank of earth, or any other construction of the form, 
shown in fig. 101, will easily show that the power of 
resistance to overthrow is immensely increased when long 
slopes are made instead of vertical walls. Besides this 
increase, the downward pressure of the body of water 
upon the inner slope, adds to the resistance against both 
overturn and sliding, and when the foundation is excavat- 
ed, as shown in the illustration, this tendency to resist 
sliding is again increased, because the adhesion between 
the old and new earth is rendered more perfect. The 
thorough incorporation of the old and new surfaces of 
earth must be carefully made, as a preliminary condition 
of stability. The full conditions of stability include a 
weight of bank which with the vertical pressure exercised 
by the water, to hold it down, will equal the horizontal 
pressure of the water, against the dam, and leave a sur- 
plus to meet any unexpected contingencies. In addition 
to these, the materials of the construction must be of 
such a character as will resist percolation of the water, 
and will bond together intimately and with cohesion. 
It is not often that dams give way by sliding upon their 
foundations ; but an instance of this has happened in the 
author's experience, when from faulty construction an 
earth dam, founded upon a smooth rock bottom, gave 
way bodily to the pressure of the water. But this dam 
was made by an inexperienced man, in defiance of pro- 
fessional advice, and of proper principles of construction. 
The best examples of the inside slope of a dam is either 
3 feet horizontal to 1 foot perpendicular, or 2'\^ to 1. 
The outside slope may be from l'|„ to 3, to 1, depending 
upon the character of the material, and the means used 
to prevent the surface f'^om washing or crumbling away. 



EARTH DAMS. 217 

These may be either by covering the face with sods, in 
case no overflow is permitted, or with masonry or plank- 
ing. 

The manner of constructing a dam is of the greatest 
importance. The modern method is to introduce a pud- 
dle wall in the middle, to place selected materials upon 
each side of this, and to form the slopes of the most 
convenient materials to be procured, whether gravel, 
rubble stone, or waste broken rock. But there are many 
very ancient embankments, still existing, that have been 
constructed without puddled centers, or any special pre- 
cautions to make them water-tight. The ancient manner 
of making these embankments was, to carry the earth in 
baskets upon the heads of the workmen, and deposit it 
where it was required, without any particular care as to 
the disposal of it. The constant treading and the 
thorough consolidation of the earth, by being thus thrown 
in small quantities beneath the feet of the workmen, 
tended to make a well incorporated, homogeneous mass, 
which would be impenetrable by the water. It would be 
difficult to discover any better mode of construction than 
this. A dam constructed by the author upon an uneven 
rock bottom which furnished an excellent foundation, 
and of a crumbly, loamy clay earth, which melted down 
in water to a pasty mass, was made without any puddling, 
and by simply carting the earth and dumping it into its 
place ; the stream having been previously confined within 
a flume of timber where the waste gate was afterwards 
put in. The treading of the horses and men, and the 
packing caused by the cart wheels, so perfectly con- 
solidated the earth that no leak was observable, and the 
dam is now probably better than it was when first made, 
15 years ago. This dam was faced upon both sides with 
waste broken rock, and in one severe freshet, water has 
poured over the top to a depth of more than two feet, for 
several days, without any injury. 
10 



218 IRlilGATION. 

As a general rule, for dams of not more than 
20 feet in higlit, when earth of the best kind, or such as 
is mentioned above, can be procured, puddling may be 
dispensed with. When puddling is used, it would seem 
to be more properly placed upon the inner side of the 
work, with the selected material next to it, and the poor- 
est used as a backing to support the work ; this, although 
seeming reasonable, is not in accordance with practice, 
and no one seems inclined to risk the innovation upon an 
accepted custom, with the risk of blame for it in case of 
failure from whatever cause. 

The first requisite, in constructing a dam of any magni- 
tude, is to ascertain the character of the foundation, and 
to excavate this to a bed of solid rock or impermeable 
earth. If springs are encountered the location may be 
abandoned and another chosen, or else the spring must 
be carried away in tight drains, beyond the outer slope 
of the dam. The channel for the water flow is then to 
be constructed — in case the dam is to be used for a reser- 
voir — in the solid subsoil, and the pipes or culverts used 
for this purpose should be flanged every few feet of the 
length, that the puddling around them may be more 
thoroughly compacted, and the danger of leakage at this 
most important point, by the creeping of the water along 
the surface, be prevented. All disturbance to the pipes 
or culverts, by settling of the work, which might occur 
if they were placed in the body of the dam, is thus 
avoided. 

The best of the selected material is then disposed in 
thin layers upon the foundation, and well rammed, or 
puddled. The puddle wall may be carried up in the 
centre of the selected earth or clay, or upon the inner face 
of it; which, although an innovation upon established 
practice, would be an improvement upon it. The earth 
should 1)0 brought to the dam by carts, in preference to 
wheel-barrows or to tip-cars upon a track although the 



PUDDLING. 219 

expense may be greater, because of the more perfect con- 
solidation of the work by the trampling of the horses, 
and the cutting of the wheels. It should be disposed in 
regular layers, of 2 to 3 feet in thickness, over the whole 
work. These layers should be depressed at the center of 
^ the work, so as to give a basin shaped form to the section. 
This is shown in fig. 101, in which the puddle wall is 
placed in the center of the dam. 

The puddle work should increase in thickness downward, 
2 inches for every foot of hight over and above the proper 
thickness at the top water line of the dam. The object of 
the puddling is only to give security against any imper- 
fection in the rest of the work, through which water 
might percolate ; but if the earth work is properly con- 
structed, of the best materials, it is probable that the 
water would never penetrate more than a few feet beyond 
the surface, and would never reach the puddled jiortion. 
Nevertheless, puddling should not be omitted, unless 
under the most favorable circumstances, and even then 
in no case in which disaster or loss of life might result 
from a failure, as wlien a large body of water is impound- 
ed in a reservoir. When a sufficient quantity of selected 
materials has been placed in the dam, the facing on either 
side may be continued to the proper slope, with any 
material that will serve the purpose ; the inner slope may 
be finished with soft material, such as peat, or dredging 
from marshes, when no disturbance by waves, or washing 
is to be apprehended, but the outer slope should consist 
of solid matter, which will retain its position, and will 
not crumble, as for instance, broken stone, rock, or 
shaly soil. 

When an earth dam is thrown across a stream, the most 
important points to secure are, the waste gates, the outer 
slope over which surplus water flows, and the foundation. 
The waste gates should be built in one of the banks, 
which should be dug away for this purpose, and the 



220 IRRIGATION. 

frames should be thoroughly well cased in with planking, 
which should extend some distance into the bank, and 
be well protected with puddled clay, tightly rammed in 
around it. The outer slope, and top of the dam, should 
be of plank or timber, with an apron upon which the 
overflow is received and carried off. The bed of the 
river at the foundation should be well searched for sunken 
logs, or brash, which should be removed before any earth 
is thrown in. These points should be looked to whether 
the work be large, or small. 

For small streams, dams of very simple construction 
will be sufficient. Cribs of timber, consisting of a sill, 
an upright post mortised in the center of the sill, and two 
timbers placed like the rafters of a house — but one at a 
greater angle than the other — from the ends of the sill 
to the top of the jiost, are placed lengthwise in the 
bed of the stream for the framework of the dam. The 
timber which slopes at the greater angle is placed at 
the front of the dam. The cribs should be placed 
from 6 to 12 feet apart, as the stream is smaller or larger. 
They are joined together by planks or timbers, spiked or 
bolted to them, and the rear of the dam is covered with 
plank jointed and fitted together very closely. Stone or 
gravel may then be thrown in, until the cribs are filled, 
care being taken to pack clay closely at the bottom, 
so that no water will escape. The front of the dam 
may then be planked over, and an apron, or floor of 
plank, laid to protect the bed of the stream from the 
waste water. The earth-dam upon the banks of the 
stream must be carefully joined to the crib-dam, and 
should be supported in the center by posts driven in the 
ground, to which three or four planks in hight are spiked. 
A dam of this kind may be made to serve for streams of 
any size, as it admits of expansion in length, hight, and 
width, and increase of strength, indefinitely. Where 
the hight required is not more than four feet, a dam of 



BRUSH AND ROCK DAMS. 



221 



earth, brush, and logs may be made to answer the pur- 
pose. There can be no better principle of construction 
adopted for such dams, than that made use of instinct- 
ively by those sagacious dam-builders, the beavers, whose 
works, able to withstand floods and freshets, easily made 
and easily repaired, last for ages, and mock in their simple 




i?'lg. lUo.— BRUSH AUD LOG DAM. 

strength many of our best engineering works. These 
dams have a foundation of mud and brush, which bind 
together very intimately ; the brush always being laid with 
the buts down stream, arrests all floating or suspended 
matter which is brought down with the current, and thus 
adds daily and constantly to the material, and the 
strength of the dam. Into this brush is interwoven logs 
and sticks, limbs and stems of trees, and stones, so placed 
that the pressure of the water tends to hold them down, 
and the interstices are filled in with earth which is also 




Fig. 104. — DAM OF PILES AND ROCK. 

thrown upon the submerged ends of the timbers. 



For 



dams of no greater hight than a few feet, and of a length 
of from 50 to 100 feet, there is none more simple, useful, 
economical, and permanent than this. For streams the 
bottoms of which are soft, sandy, mucky, or muddy, this 
style of dam has no superior. A section of a dam of this 



222 IKKIGATIOX. 

kind is shown at fig. 103. A dam made of piles and rock 
is shown at fig. 104. 

This form of dam is suitable for river beds in which 
piles can be easily driven, such as those consisting of 
quicksand, mud or soft earth, upon which a structure not 
founded upon piles would be neither substantial nor per- 
manent. It is made by driving, across the river, three 
rows of piles, of graduated lengths, as shown in the en- 
graving. These are connected by stringers, solidly bolted 
to them, and the framework is stiffened, where necessary, 
by girts and braces. Cap pieces of flattened timber are 
bolted on to the top, and the whole frame is filled in with 
rock, and then planked over. The face may be filled in 
with fine brush, and earth, to a proper slope. Dams of 
this kind may be made of great lengths, where the fall 
is not more than 10 or 12 feet, and resist the most severe 
freshets. 

In taking the water from the stream, it is necessary to 
consult the laws which control the motions of liquids, 
else counter-currents or eddies may be established, which 
will wear away, or undermine the dam, or sluice. The 
dam should slope away at an angle toward the sluice, so 
that the current of the stream may be easily diverted in- 
to the canal without reflux, or regurgitation. To further 
this end the dam may be placed diagonally across the 
stream, or partly so, and the floor of the dam should be 
carried so far up the stream as to cover the entrance to 
the canal, and a few feet into it, so that the bed may be 
protected from washing by the current. 

Pumps. — The use of steam pumps in irrigation, will 
probably be found profitable within a few years, when 
the valley lands that are easily and cheaply irrigated, are 
supplied with water. The surplus then running to waste 
will eventually be raised to the higher lands, by whatever 
power may be cheapest. In many localities there are 
no valley lands, but the banks of the streams are abrupt. 



USE OF STEAM. 223 

and if the water is used at all it must be elevated. When 
it is considered that ona bushel of coal contains a latent 
power within it, sufficient to elevate to a hight of one 
foot, 50,000,000, (fifty millions), pounds of water, or a 
less quantity to a proportionately greater hight, the future 
probabilities of the use of steam pumps in irrigation, 
will not seem to be misjudged. All that is necessary is 
to consume the coal beneath a boiler, and apply the 
power of the steam in the most economical manner, with 
the best constructed engines and pumps, to the work of 
bringing the water where it is required. At the present 
time water is thus procured by one farmer at least, in 
California, who employs a steam engine and a pump, to 
raise water from a well, for the irrigation of his crop of 
vegetables for the Sacramento market. The high price 
procured for his product, is offset to some extent by the 
high price of coal, which costs in that locality from 118 
to $20 per ton. Where coal is much cheaper, the gain 
would go to offset the probable lower prices of the pro- 
duct. Yet in many localities, where market crops are 
raised, it would undoubtedly j^ay to employ steam power 
to raise the water, either from streams or wells. If from 
wells, reservoirs or tanks would be required, both for the 
purpose of gaining the necessary head for distribution, 
and for the warming of the water. 

There is a large variety of pumps that may be used for 
this purpose, that are of great capacity. 

No mechanical power that we possess is so cheap, or 
so eff active as steam. The effective energy contained in 
one bushel of coal being able to elevate six million gal- 
lons of water o-ne foot high, or a million gallons six feet 
high, or a hundred thousand gallons 60 feet higli, it be- 
comes only a question if the cost of coal and that of the 
application of the power, will enable us to use it profitably. 
It is not to be doubted that in some cases now, and in 
numberless cases in the future, the possibility of the use 



224 



IRRIGATION. 



of steam in agriculture, and especially in irrigation of 
arable lands may become usefully available. When we 
see that the consumption of one bushel of coal, costing 
20 to 40 cents, in a day, will irrigate 22 acres of land con- 
tinuously, and as much more than that as the continuity 
is broken and the consumption per acre is lessened, it 
becomes very clear that there are many cultivators of the 
ground that could now make the use of pumps driven by 
steam to pay them handsomely. 

Our present mechanical appliances for raising water are 





Fig. 106. —METHOD OF OPER- 
ATINQ A CENTRIFUGAL PUMP. 



¥ig. 105.— CENTRIFUGAL PUMP. 

very wonderful. The great rotary pump which discharged 
the enormous cascade of water at the Centennial, which 
astonished every ^dsitor to that remarkable display of 
mechanical powers, is able to throw 100,000 gallons per 



PUMPS. 



225 



minute. This would supply about 7,000 acres of land 
with water for continuous irrigation. The principal upon 
which this powerful pump works is that of the common 
propellor of the steam ship. An ordinary propeller shaft 
is enclosed in an iron pipe, and is rotated by means of a 
pulley and a belt from an engine. A section of this pump 
is shown at Ug. 105. It is known as Shaw's Compound 
Propeller Pump, and is manufactured in Philadelphia. 
The method of its operation is shown at fig. 106. It has 
the advantage that it can lift water any desired hight by 
proper adjustment. Perhaps no pump is better adapted 
to extensive irrigation than this. 

It is, however, at the present time, the smaller pumps 
that will be most available for watering crops at intervals 
when rain is inadequately supplied. To have then a re- 




Fig. 107.— WHITMAN & BURRELL'S STEAM ENGINE AND PUMP. 

source that can be drawn upon will be invaluable. For 
such purposes smaller pumps are made, the cost of which 
is comparatively trifling. One of these, intended to be 
operated by steam, and known as the Fairchild Steam 
Engine and Pump combined, is manufactured by Messrs. 
Whitman and Burrell, of Little Falls, N. Y., for the very 
moderate cost of $75. This pump will raise 30 gallons 
a minute, which will be sufiScient to cover 2 acres of land 



226 



IRRIGATION. 



an inch deep every day. The engine is of 2 horse-power, 
and requires a boiler of equal capacity. The whole, com- 
plete, will cost but little over 1200, a sum, which con- 
sidering the inexpensiveness of its operation, is within 
the profitable employment of almost every market garden- 
er, or fruit grower, who cultivates 10 to 12 acres. This 
combined pump and engine is shown at fig. 107. 

A force pump, designed for house and farm use, but 
which is usefully applicable for irrigation of gardens, is 
shown at fig. 
108. This is the 
^^Blunt's Uni- 
versal Force 
Pump," made 
by the Nason 
Manufacturing 
Co. , of Beek- 
man St., New 
York. A care- 
ful examina- 
tion of this 
pump, as to its 
manner of 
manufacture, 
and effective- 
ness in use for 
the purpose of 
light irrigation 
has been entirely sufficient to show its very great value as 
a cheap and effective pump. Being simple in structure, 
any person can take it apart, and put it together if neces- 
sary ; its strength gives it the durability needed for this 
work, and being furnished with a very capacious sand- 
strainer, it may be used to pump river or other water 
which may be muddy, or have sand in suspension, with- 
out the least injury to the interior parts. Not the least 




Fig. lOS.— blunt's 

FORCE-PUMP. 




Fig. 109.— BLTmT»S SAM)- 
CHAMBEK. 



RESERVOIRS. 227 

of its value is that it may be put to this use while it fills 
the place of a house or bam pump, or both. It may 
be worked by hand, or attached to a windmill or steam- 
engine. It has attachments for pipes or hose at the 
spout, or these may be made beneath the surface. The 
sand-strainer (fig. 109) may be attached to this or any 
other pump. While there are a great variety of pumps 
that may be turned to the uses of the irrigator, yet these 
undoubtedly meet all the requirements of those who may 
be called upon to use them, from the greatest operator to 
the least. 

Reservoirs.— A vast amount of irrigation has been 
done, and may be done, by the help of storage reservoirs, 
in which the rainfall of a part of the year is impounded 
for use during the dry season. The most prominent 
examples of these storage reservoirs are in India, where 
ancient works exist, which surpass in immensity, and 
solidity of construction, what are usually considered as the • 
wonders of the world. The people of India, 100 millions 
of which depend for their existence upon the water sup- 
plied by these reservoirs for the irrigation of their land, 
have taken advantage of every valley, ravine, or nook, 
large and small, and have converted them into storage 
reservoirs, by throwing across them banks of earth, in 
which the water supply is husbanded, so that none may 
run to waste. In fourteen districts of the Madras Presi- 
dency alone, no less than 43,000 irrigation reservoirs are 
recorded by the Indian Government as being in effective 
operation, while at least 10,000 have fallen into disuse. 
The average length of the embankments is half a mile ; 
one of them, now no longer in use, extending for 30 
miles, and enclosing a space of 80 square miles, or over 
50,000 acres. The second largest, which is still in use, 
has an area of 35 square miles, and a dam 12 miles in 
length. Curious statisticians have calculated that these 
Indian embankments contain altogether as much earth as 



228 lERIGATIOX. 

would serve to encircle the whole earth with a belt 6 feet 
in hight and thickness. One embankment of solid 
masonry, strongly cemented together and covered with 
eai-th, exists in Ceylon, which is 15 miles long, 100 feet 
wide at the base, slopes to a top width of 40 feet, and 
extends across the foot of a spacious valley. In Europe 
there are many reservoirs for irrigation. In Spain there 
are a large number ; Italy has most of any European 
country ; in France there are many of considerable extent, 
one contains 500,000 cubic yards, another 4,000,000 yards, 
and hundreds contain from 20 up to 50,000 cubic yards. 
In our own country, where we have seen a railroad system 
so vastly and successfully extended, it cannot be doubted, 
that at some time not far in the future, equally costly 
and valuable works may be constructed, having for their 
object the reclamation of fertile soils from aridity by 
bringing to them a supply of water which now flows 
away uselessly. By impounding the winter rainfall of 
thousands of valleys, or the melting snow from thousands 
of hills, floods may be prevented and a store of water be 
accumulated for use in the rainless season, which may 
bring into productiveness millions of acres of now waste 
lands. The manner of making these storage reservoirs 
is to throw across the outlet of a valley or of a series of 
yalleys connected together, a dam of sufficient hight and 
strength, furnished with outlet pipes, which discharge, 
either constantly or intermittently, into a canal. The 
proper construction of the dam has been already treated 
of ; it will now only be necessary to consider some im- 
portant and pertinent characteristics of the valleys them- 
selves. 

At fig. 110 is shown a system of valleys, which have 
but one outlet at the narrow neck where the dam is 
thrown across. This is a typical example of a most 
favorable opportunity for constructing an irrigation reser- 
voir. In some cases it may be necessary to make more 



DRAINING A VALLEY. 



229 



than one dam ; some subordinate ones may be required 
to prev-ent overflow at lateral points. This will be dis- 
covered when the contour lines of the level of the valley 
are run, as they should be for every three or six feet of 




Fig. 110.— A VALLEY RESERVOIR. 

elevation. From these contour lines the capacity of the 
reservoir may be calculated for each level. In the case 
here illustrated, it will be observed that two valleys run 
together, and meet where two spurs of high land approach 
near each other. This combination of favoring circum- 
stances frequently occurs in mountain regions, or among 
the lateral spurs and foot hills of higher ranges. In the 
mountain ranges and hills which lie within our territory 



230 



IRRIGATION. 



most subject to aridity, opportunities occur for construct- 
ing such reservoirs on the grandest scale, at the most 
moderate cost. Deep, "narrow canons, which open out 
into extensive, and sometimes vast valleys, now of little 
use, for want of soil and on account of their rocky sur- 
face, might be easily and cheaply closed, and thus a res- 
ervoir of great magnitude might be made. The normal 




■nf 

Fig. 111. — VALLEY IN INCLINED STRATA. 

flow of the issuing stream might thus be regularly main- 
tained, and destructive torrents from ^^ cloud bursts," 
and rapidly melting snow banks, might be prevented. 
But before any expenditure is made in such operations, 
the geological character of the valley should be examined, 
lest from unfavorable conditions failure might ensue. 
This will clearly appear by a glance at the three annexed 
illustrations. At fig. Ill is shown a section of what is 
known as a valley of erosion, situated in an inclined 
formation. It is apparent, that if such a valley be 
dammed, the water might escape through any one of the 
strata on the lower side, that might happen to be porous. 
In this case failure might be expected. 

At figure 112 is shown a section of a valley occupying 
an anticlinal axis. It is equally apparent here, that the 
escape of the impounded water might be looked for, and 
that upon both sides if any of these strata be porous. 
Failure would be certain in this case also. 



THE WASTE-WAY. 



231 



At fig. 113 is seen a section of a valley occupying a syn- 
clinal axis. It is apparent that a reservoir formed in such 
a valley could not leak by any possibility, even though all 




Fig. 112.— AN ANTICLINAL VALLEY. 

the strata were porous. In addition to this, a valley of 
this character will almost always have abundant springs 
issuing from its flanks, while the previous one can have 
none at all, and the first mentioned can have them on but 




Fig. 113.— A SYNCLINAL VALLEY. 

one of its sides, and what maybe gained in this way, may 
be more than lost in another. 

The surplus overflow from a reservoir, should be 
made to discharge at a point away from the dam, as 
shown at A, in fig. 110. This is necessary or at least 
advisable, as the dam may be damaged by the overflow ; 
or lest to provide the requisite strengthening to resist 
erosion, the cost may be augmented unnecessarily. A 
"waste-way may be formed in a depression in the edge of 
the basin, either by excavation, if it is already too high, 
or by masonry if the existing depression is too low. In 
case of rupture from any cause, the main work will re- 
main intact. In addition to the waste-sluice, the appen- 
dages of a reservoir consist of the apparatus for the dis- 



232 



IRRIGATION. 



charge of the water, which include the pipes, the valve 
tower, and the culvert. For convenience and safety, in 




Fig. 114. — ^DAM WITH CULVEBT AND TOWEB. 

case of the giving way of a joint in the discharge pipe, 
this should be carried out through a culvert of masonry, 
of sufficient size to admit a man. This culvert com- 
municates with the valve tower as shown in fig. 114. The 

valve is a circular plate, which 
slides between two flanges 
within the pipe, the surfaces 
which come into contact be- 
ing ground to fit accurately 
together. This is raised by 
means of a screw attached to 
a rod havinsf a horizontal 
wheel for turning it at the 
top. A form of valve frequent- 
ly used is shown at fig. 115, 
the section of pipe contain- 
ing the valve being bolted by 
the flanges to the discharge 
pipe. A valve, in common 
use in Italian and French ir- 
rigating works, is shown in 
section at fig. 116. This, A, 
may be made of wood, shod 
at the foot with a plate of cast iron, ground to fit an- 
other similar plate attached to the opening of the pipe, B, 
It is raised by the rod, B, keyed to the upper part, and is 
guided by means of eyed wings, D, D, which work up 
and down upon the rods, C, C. 




Fig. 115.— DISCHABGING PIPE 
VAl-VB. 



DISCHARGE FROM RESERVOIRS. 



233 



The higlit of the dam above the crest of the waste- 
weir should differ for different depths of the reservoir. 
When the dam is 25 feet high, the waste- weir should be 
4 feet lower, and for every 25 feet of additional hight of 
dam, the difference should be increased one foot. The 
size of the waste-weir should be proportioned to the 
quantity of overflow to be carried off. This is a matter 
for calculation of the amount of rainfall and the extent 
of the area supplying the reservoir. It would always be 
safe to form a temporary dam of flash boards, or earth, 




Fig. 116,— DISCHARGING PLUTSTGER VALVE. 

upon the top of the waste-weir, which would raise the 
surface of the water to the extreme limit of safety, when, 
if this were overflowed, it would be carried away, and the 
safe level quickly restored. This is a common practice in 
India, where a large waste-weir is essentially necessaiy, 
on account of the sudden torrents of rain which fall at 
certain seasons, and where the necessity for saving every 
gallon of water is paramount. In this way the safety of 
the works is secured against sudden and unexpected 
accident. But this possibility of providing for an eventu- 
ality, which brings danger with it, in this manner, should 



234 IRRIGATION. 

not lead to the neglect of carefully gauging the excess 
of water to be carried off, at times when but little is 
used in irrigation, and of providing ample accommoda- 
tion for it. 

Reservoirs of smaller size, for use to a limited extent, 
or for farms and gardens, may be made in a much more 
modest manner. Where the surface of the ground is 



Fig. 117. — KESEIiVOIit ON LEVEL GROUND. 

level, the reservoir may be made by digging out the bot- 
tom, and forming the banks of the excavated earth, as 
shown at fig. 117. A reservoir upon sloping ground may 
be made by throwing to one side earth excavated from 
the bottom, and forming the bank, as shown at fig. 118. 
A reservoir in a natural hollow may be made, by excavat- 
ing the bottom, and using the earth to raise the sides, as 



Fig. 118.— RESERVOIR ON SLOPING GROUND. 

shown at fig. 119. In these examples, the original out- 
line is shown by the dotted lines, and the finislied work 
by the shaded portion. The scope for the use of such 
small reservoirs as these, by farmers or gardeners, is in 
reality very extensive. 

It is a question of profit solely. Will it pay for the 
farmer or gardener to be master of his operations ? Will 
the cost of reservoirs, and of the necessary preparation 
of the surface of the farm, to make tlie apjolication of 
the reserved water possible, overbear the value of the 
crops raised ? With our present defective agriculture, and 
our consequently unprofitable crops, the necessary cost 



ARTESIAN WELLS. 235 

may in many cases prohibit the improvement. But it 
cannot always thus remain. The exigencies of a rapidly 
increasing population will sooner or later compel a differ- 
ent system of agriculture ; there must be more enterprise, 
a greater employment of capital, new methods of pro- 
ducing food, and compelling the soil to yield its maximum 
crops. One of the improvements will surely take the 
shape of equalizing the suj^ply of water. There is an 
extensive scope for profitably doing this now, if we will 



Fig. 119.— RESERVOIR Df A HOLLOW. 

only make the most of wiiat opportunities we have. 
There are numberless farms through which, every Spring, 
a flood of water pours from the ground upon a higher 
level. Numberless streams are torrents in Spring and dry 
gullies in the Summer and Fall. By individual or associ- 
ated effort, reservoirs more or less capacious, might be 
made to catch all this useless or injurious water, and 
make it serve a useful purpose. 

Artesian Wells. — The operation of an artesian well 
may be explained by the illustration, fig. 120. In this 
is shown a basin-shaped deposit of various strata, either 
of rock or of clay, gravel or sand, resting one upon 
another. One of these strata consists of porous material, 
lying between two impervious strata ; it may be that the 
one consists of sand or gravel, lying between two beds of 
clay, or it may be of fissured sandstone, or limestonCji 
placed between two beds of compact rock. At the outer 
edge of the basin these strata reach the surface. The 
softer materials being easily worn away, may form valleys 
through which streams may flow, and a large portion of 
their contents may escape down the porous bed until the 
basin is filled. In some cases, when streams are thus 



236 



IRRIGATION. 



situated, the whole body of water sinks out of sight, and 
flows in an underground channel, until it breaks out in 
copious springs here and jbhere, or in a body at one place. 
This happens in well known cases in the limestone regions 
of Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, and in Texas, 
where large streams thus suddenly disappear. In other 
cases considerable streams or lakes pass over or lie upon 
such porous strata, and a large quantity of water escapes 
from them. Let it be supposed that, in the diagram 
given, a stream or lake is situated at the point «, or 
otherwise that the rainfall of the locality here sinks into 
the ground and disappears. The watsr passes through 




Fig. 120.— PLAN OF ARTESIAN WELLS. 

the porous stratum, shown by the pebbled shading, (b), un- 
til the basin is filled. Then if at any point within the basin, 
c, c, a well be bored until the porous water bearing stratum 
is penetrated, the water is at once forced to the surface 
by the pressure, and if confined in a pipe, would rise un- 
til the level of the source is reached, as shown by the 
dotted line. This would be an artesian well. 

It is evident that a combination of circumstances, rare- 
ly existing, must be found to furnish a source of water 
of this character at all, and that there must be an abun- 
dant and permanent supply to furnish wells that can 
yield copiously and permanently. If there is only an 
accumulated store of rainfall to draw upon, there is 
danger that it may soon be exhausted, and afterwards 



CANALS. 237 

that only a limited supply can be expected. If the source 
of water is inexhaustible, then only can the wells be made 
permanent. Thus a few wells in a district, may perhaps 
yield copiously for awhile and then fail, or if the number 
be added to, the supply of water may be inadequate for 
all of Uiem, and those at the higher part of the basin 
will cease to flow the first, and afterwards the remainder 
will act no longer than the supply holds out. It is certain, 
therefore, that the risk of expending large sums of money 
in sinking wells of this kind, will be very great, and that 
as the number in any locahty is increased, the risk of 
failure increases. Further, the expectation of a perma- 
nent supply is seen to be delusive, excepting under a nar- 
row range of circumstances. For these reasons, caution 
should be exercised in making considerable investments, 
and founding large hopes upon the basis of irrigating 
farms by the means of artesian wells. More especially 
should caution be exercised where an extensive district is 
to be made dependent upon these wells, and a large 
number of them are to be sunk in contiguous places. 



C HA P T E R XIX. 

SUPPLY CANALS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. 

The proper location of the main supply canals of an 
irrigation system, is a very important consideration. 
Upon it depend, in a great measure, the cost of the works 
and their future efficiency. The first cost of a canal will 
depend, as a matter of course, upon its length, as well as 
upon its manner of construction. It may be, in some 
cases, a matter of little moment whether the course of 
the canal be in a straight line or should curve with the 
meanderings of the level, or on the other hand, it may 



238 IRRIGATION. 

be a very important one. No extensive system of irriga- 
tion can be built up in a year, or a few years. All the 
great works in existence have been the growths of length- 
ened periods, and have been altered, or improved from 
time to time. But nevertheless, the construction of a 
system of irrigation works should not be looked upon as 
a temporary expedient, that may serve a present purpose, 
and may be changed as need may arise in the future. 
This would be a short-sighted policy, and one that would 
be costly in the end. When works of such a useful 
character as this are completed, many various interests 
become involved in their stability, and to change their 
course or character, might, and undoubtedly would, give 
rise to damage, disputes, and conflicts. The location of 
the main works should, therefore, be chosen with every 
regard to future as well as present requirements. As a 
general rule, the chief consideration should be to select 
the location with regard to the most copious supply of 
water, and the largest amount of territory that may be 
served by it. The actual supply of water should be ascer- 
tained with great care and exactness, lest costly works 
may be constructed, and afterwards found to be in- 
adequately provided with water. There are not wanting 
cases amongst our new works, in which this unfortunate 
dilemma seems to be inevitable. The fall in the course 
of the canal determines at least two things ; one, the 
amount of water which may be passed through it, and 
the other, the stability of the banks, or the resistance to 
the wearing action of the current. 

Trie fall should not he more than one foot in a thousand, 
except there are the best reasons for departing from these 
limits. This will give a current of 2 feet per second, or 
about a mile and a half in an hour. Half of this fall, or 
2' 1 2 feet to the mile, may be taken as the standard for 
average circumstances. This will give a flow of about 
one mile per hour. 



THEIR LOCATIOX. 239 

Tlie fall sliould he regular from beginning to end, else 
the current will be more rapid in places where the fall is 
increased, and this will cause the washing of the banks 
in the steeper parts, and the deposition of the detritus in 
places where the current slackens. This, in time, will 
either destroy the canal or render costly repairs necessary. 
It may be a question whether it is better to follow a long 
curve around a hollow, or to carry the canal in a flume or 
aqueduct directly across it. This question may be decid- 
ed by considering the cost involved in both plans, and the 
advantages that may be derived, if any, from adopting the 
more costly of the two. If there is land that may be 
conveniently irrigated by following the longer course, that 
would be a point for consideration. But it should be 
taken into account that a secondary canal can at any time 
b3 made to supply dependent territory, and it may not be 
advisable to carry the main canal to it, for no other pur- 
pose than to supply it. 

The character of the soil in which the bed is to be. 
made, should be regarded in fixing upon the location. 
There are some canals in existence which lose 40 per cent 
of their water by filtration through the subsoil. It is 
evident that, in such cases, it would have been prudent 
at least to have been sure that no better location could 
have been selected. 

After this point has been duly settled, the methods of 
construction need the most careful study. It will be a 
wise precaution, that may hereafter turn out to be a great 
economy, to deposit all the excavated earth upon one side 
only of the canal. If any increase in its size should ever 
afterwards be deiermined upon, it can be enlarged at 
greatly less cost if this precaution is observed. 

The same principles which relate to the construction of 
the larger canals arc also involved in that of the second- 
ary and distributary ones. The following remarks will 
therefore apply to irrigating canals of every description. 



240 IRKIGATION. 

and to a great extent, to the furrows ; excepting those of 
the most temporary character. It may be that some 
repetition of previous statements may be made, but as 
they will be found pertinent to the matter in hand, no 
apology may be needed for that. 

In the construction of canals of whatever description, 
so long as their bed and banks are of earth, the inclina- 
tion of the bed, the size of the channel, its form, and 
the nature of the soil through which it is carried, are of 
the utmost importance ; because upon these depend its 
capacity for dehverin^ water ; its cost of construction ; 
its permanence in use ; and the prevention of loss of 
water by filtration through its banks or bed. Upon the 
inclination of the bed depends the velocity of the current 
and the stability of the banks. It is necessary to limit 
the velocity of the stream in the canal, lest the banks 
should be degraded, and washed down into the bed. 
Water flowing at the rate of 120 feet per minute, which 
is the rate of flow with a fall of one foot in a thousand, 
is considered the hmit of safety in the most consistent 
soils. Water flowing at half this speed will wash the 
banks of a canal made in sand and fine gravel, but it 
must not be forgotten that the velocity of a stream is 
greatest in the middle of the surface, and least at the 
bottom and sides where it comes in contact with the 
earth. Thus the flow in the center of a wide stream 
being at the rate of ten feet in a given time, Tvdll be only 
eight feet in a deep canal, and six feet in a shallow one. 

The following table gives the different and the mean 
velocity of streams : 

Velocity in inches per 

second at the suiface. 

4 

8 

12 

16 

20 

24 

28 

9.9. 



Veiocity in inches per 


Mean velocity. 


second at the bottom. 




1. 


2.5 


3.3 


5.6 


6, 


9.0 


9, 


12.6 


12, 


16.0 


15, 


19.5 


18.4 


23.2 


16. 


26.8 



SLOPES OF CAXALS. 241 

The slope of some of the largest irrigatiDg canals in 
Europe is from 13 to 200 feet in 10,000. The slope in 
the canals of the Tyrol and other localities in the Alps is 
frequently as great as six feet to the thousand. In these 
cases the sides of the canals are of masonry or timber. 
The rule upon which the average fall of canals is indicated 
is as follows, yiz. : For 
a bed which consists of 
fine mud, 16 feet in 
100,000 ; for soft clay, 
45 in 100,000; for sand, 

136 in 100,000; for Fi. loi.H .eep c.x^. 

gravel, 433 in 100,000, 

and for solid clay, 5 TO in 100,000. "With greater in- 
clinations than these there is a probability that the sub- 
stances of which the bed is formed will be taken in sus- 
pension and transported by the water. 

It is obvious that in those cases in which the fall is at 
the minimum, the size of the canal must be enlarged 
proportionately to pass a required amount of water. The 
velocity may be hastened without enlarging the size in 
certain cases. For instance, it is a rule in hydraulic 
engineering, that the velocity is in jDroportion to the mean 




Fig. 122.— A SHALLOW CA>-AL. 

radius or diameter of the canal, other things being equal. 
Thus the water in the canal deep in proportion to its 
width, as illustrated in fig. 1-21, meets with less resistance 
from the surface of the bed and sides, (called by engineers 
the ^' wet perimeter *') than that in the shallow canal 
seen in fig. 12 2, and its velocity being therefore greater 
than in one of a contrary character, a larger quantity of 
water is passed through it in a given time. 



242 IRlilGATION. 

In soils that do not admit of rapid currents, and in 
cases where a greater fall is unavoidable, it is customary 
to construct the canal in sections, joined by chutes of 
stonework or timber. The water passes through these 
chutes with great velocity, and accomplishes the fall with- 
out injury to the canal. 

The inclination of the banks depends upon the con- 
sistency of the soil. The angles of repose, or the slopes 
at which various kinds of soil will cease to slide down a 
declivity, are as follows : Wet clay, 16 degrees from the 
horizontal ; dry clay, 45 degrees ; coarse gravel, 40 de- 
grees ; compact earth, 50 degrees ; arable loam or mucky 
earth, 28 degrees ; wet sand, 22 degrees ; dry sand, 38 
degrees ; fine gravel, 40 degrees. It depends upon the 
position of the canal as regards the surface as well as 



Fig. 133.— SLOPE OP "one foot in one." 

upon the nature of the soil, what inclination is necessary 
to be given to the banks. When the canal is excavated 
wholly beneath the surface, an angle of 45 degrees, or a 
slope having one foot of vertical hight to one of horizontal 
base, is generally chosen. This is shown in fig. 123, in 
which the dotted lines show that the slope is the diago- 
nal diameter of a perfect square, and therefore one 
of 45 degrees, or of ^' one foot in one." When the 
canal is deeply excavated, the slope should be broken 
by a narrower bank, slightly above the level of the water, 
shown in fig. 124, and the upper slope above the bank 
should be increased. The width of the bank should be 
proportioned to the hight of the upper slope ; its purpose 
is to prevent earth loosened from the slope falling into 



FORMS OF CANALS. 



243 



the canal. In carrying a canal around the spur of a hill, 
the earth excavated should be made to increase the width 
of the bank, as shown in fig. 125, in which the dotted 
line marks the excavation and the removed earth. The 
moved earth will adhere more closely to the old surface 




Fig. 134.— FORM OF A DEEP CANAL,. 

if that is loosened with the pick, so as to secure an inter- 
mixture of the new earth with the old. Where the hill- 
side is of loose earth, it may be necessary to protect it by 
stonework, laid up as seen in fig. 126. Where a curve is 
made upon a hillside, it must not be forgotten that the 




Fig. 125.— CANAL AROUND A HILL. 

stream impinges upon the bank at every point of the out- 
ward curve. Sometimes, therefore, the stone-work will 
need to be laid up upon the outer side, as the proper 
place for it is where the water will wear the most. 
Protection of some kind will be needed at those points. 
This may be given by driving stakes and wattling 
brush among the stakes, with the buts pointing down 
stream, or by increasing the slope of the banks on 



244 



IRRIGATION. 




Fig. 126.— PROTECTED CANAL. 



the outside curve. Sometimes a canal needs to be carried 
underground, beneath roads or buildings. A wooden 

bridge may be made as 
shown in fig. 127, which, 
when covered with earth, 
appears as at fig. 128. It 
consists of a piece of round 
timber, to which short 
planks are strongly nailed 
/ by one of their ends. The 

other ends are spread apart 
as far as may be necessary 
to give sufficient capacity to the canal. The bridge is put 
together in the canal, and when it is finished is covered 
with earth. Its triangular 
form gives it great strength. 
Where the soil is porous 
and open in its character, con- 
siderable loss of water often 
occurs by percolation. This 
is to be prevented by puddling 
the bottom and sides with 
clay or compact earth. The 
clay is deposited upon the banks, and as it is softened 
and reduced to a plastic condition by the action of the 
water, it is carried down and de- 
posited in a layer upon the bot- 
tom of the canal. Gravelly and 
loamy soils may be made water- 
tight by puddling the moist bot- 
tom. This may be done by driv- 
ing a flock of sheep up and down 
the canal when the bottom is wet, 
v;r, 10Q ^^^^x^^T,^ or drawins^ lo^s up and down by 

big, IJio. — COMPLETED rt to r J 

CULVERT. horses. When a canal must either 

cross a valley or be carried around it, it . will often be 




Fig. 127. — ^BRIDGB FOR CULVERT. 




MEASURIXG CANALS. 



245 



found profitable to extend its length around the cnrve. 
It will be so in cases where the soil of the valley can be 
brought under irrigation, and where it is compact and 
capable of retaining the water. Where these circum- 
stances are not present, it will be best to carry the water 
across the depression by a wooden channel, supported up- 
on timbers, or by an inverted siphon resting upon the 
surface and covered with a bank of earth, or buried 
wholly beneath the surface. If an inverted siphon is 
used, it must be remembered that the confined water 
exerts considerable pressure, which must be provided for 
by securely strengthening the tube. 

The capacity of the canal is an element which enters, 
in an important degree, into the calculation as to its con- 
struction. To estimate the capacity of a stream of water 
it is necessary to find the area of the cross section of the 
stream in feet, and to multiply this by the velocity in 
feet per second or minute. This should be reduced one- 




Fig. 129.— PLAN OP MEASURING A CROSS-SECTION. 

fifth, to allow for the lesser velocity at the bottom and sides, 
before explained. The result is the cubic feet of water 
passing down the canal or river in the time indicated. A 
cubic foot of water weighs 62^ 1^ pounds, and measures 
about 7^ I, gallons. To find the cross section of a stream, 
the figure formed by the surface of the bed and that of 
the stream is taken and averaged, or reduced to determine 
ed geometrical outline. Thus a stream one foot deep in 
the center, four feet wide on the surface, two feet at the 
bottom, with banks sloping at an angle of 45 degrees, 
will have a cross section of three feet. This result is ob- 



246 IRRIGATION. 

tained by adding the width of the surface to that of the 
bottom, dividing by two, and multiplying the sum by 
the depth. This is expla/ined by fig. 129, in which it is 
seen that the two triangular side sections of the area of 
the stream are equal to half the central section. If the 
bottom of the stream came to a point and had no width, 
then the two halves would be equal to a square with a 
diameter equal to half the width of the surface. The 
velocity is found by floating a cork or piece of light wood 
upon the stream, and accurately measuring the distance 
traveled in a minute. The usual estimate of the water 
required in extensive, continuous irrigation, is one cubic 
foot or 7'|2 gallons per second for 100 acres. Other 
estimates double the quantity of water required, but it is 
found, as the soil becomes saturated, that much less 
moisture is required to supply the crops. This smaller 
estimate may thus safely be taken as the basis of cal- 
culation for the size of the main canals. 

In calculating the capacity of the canal, or rather the 
amount of water that will be carried through it, allow- 
ance must be made for the loss by filtration, and also by 
evaporation. The total loss from these sometimes 
amounts to 50 per cent of the water entering the canal, 
during a flow of a few miles. The Platte Water Canal 
Company, of Denver, loses 700 inches of water out of a 
total inflow at the head of their canal of 1,700 inches. 
Both filtration and evaporation may be reduced to a 
minimum by giving to the canal the form shown in fig. 
121, by which the bed is narrowed, and the surface expos- 
ed to the atmosphere is decreased. 

The measurement of the water supplied should be ac- 
curate. Generally this is done by means of a gate of given 
dimensions, fixed in a sluice-way accurately constructed, 
which is graduated so that it may be raised to a mark 
designating the quantity of water passing through the 
opening. The quantity issuing is regulated by the head 



WATER GATES 



247 



or liiglit of the water above the opening, as upon this 
dopends the velocity of the stream escaping. The exact 
velocity of the stream issuing under a certain head is not 
ascertained by any arbitrary rule, but is estimated and 
agreed upon by irrigators as a matter of custom and con- 
venience. 

The method of measurement common in this country, 
is by an opening of so many square inclies with a head of 
three inches of water in the flume. The actual quantity 
of water which may flow through this opening depends 
upon many varying circumstances, such as the size of the 
canal, the substance of which the flume is made, the 
shape of the flume, its position with regard to the course 
of the main current, with other modifying influences, all 
of wiiich may cause differences in the quantities delivered 
through openings of the same size. By and by, when 
our circumstances require it, however, some more precise 
method to arrive at the exact quantity of water escaping 
through the orifice will undoubtedly be discovered. 
Tlie gates for the passage of water into the smaller 

canals should be care- 
fully made. Wooden 

sluices are destructible, 

and can scarcely be made 

close. If timber sills, 

sideposts, and plank are 

used, they should be 

made of the best of oak. 

A cast-iron plate should 

be laid in the sill for the 

gate to close upon, and 

the gate should be shod 

with a cast-iron shoe, 

beveled and planed to fit 

the planed surface of the plate. There will then be no leak- 
age. A well constructed sluice-way should have a cast- 



248 



IRRIGATION. 



iron plate in the sill and a cast-iron shoe upon the gate. 
A common mode of construction is as follows : The gate 
slides in side quoins ; a flart bar supports an uj)right frame, 
in which a toothed-wheel is fitted, gearing into the rack 
of the stem of the gate. By turning the toothed-wheel 




Fig. 131. — A LEVER-GATE. 

by a crank, the racked stem is raised or lowered, and the 
gate with it. At fig. 130, a form of sluice worked by a 
screw, «, passing through a projecting eye, &, in the 
gate, /, and a revolving nut, c, and lever- wheel, e, in the 
frame. By turning the lever-wheel the gate is raised. 
Another form is shown at fig. 131. The gate is lifted by 

an arm a, which works on 
a pivot, and catches into a 
rack on a qnadrant h, and 
is there held, keeping the 
gate open at any desired 
hight. A very common 
wooden stop is shown at 
fig. 132. This is suitable 
for small channels, and is 
made of two boards joined 
together, but separated at the ends, as shown at a, a. In 
the space between the boards a sluice board, h, is passed, 
being lifted by a hand-hole, and kept at any point by a 
wedge, c. An aperture is made in the boards of a size 
required, the lower edge being level with the bottom of 
the channel. 




oBf 



g 



Fig. 132. — ^HAND-GATE. 



CROSSING CANALS OR ROADS. 



249 



Sometimes it is necessary to carry one channel across 
another at the same level, and yet keep them separate. 
This is done by constructing a pipe of plank, see fig. 
133, in the shape of an inverted siphon, and carrying it 
beneath the channel to be crossed. This pipe is sunk 
in the channel of which it is a continuation. At the en- 
trance to the pipe a well or basin, c, is sunk in the chan- 




Fig. 133. — MANNER OF CROSSING A CANAL. 

nel, in which matter suspended in the water may fall and 
be caught so that it may not obstruct the pipe. In the 
same manner a canal may be carried beneath a road. 

In forming the smaller permanent channels, some labor 
may be saved by taking advantage of natural depressions 
in the ground, and forming the channels there, using the 
excavated earth for filling up the depression. Thus in 
the case illustrated by fig. 134, the earth is removed from 
the center of the hollow, and placed on each side, 
raising the sides, as shown by the dotted lines, and leav- 




Fig. 134.— CANAL IN A HOLLOW. 

itig the canal of the shape indicated. A case in which 
a canal is needed upon sloping ground is shown at fig. 135. 
The earth excavated is placed as before on each side, and 
the level raised as shown by the dotted lines. 

The distributing furrows upon cultivated grounds can- 
not be permanent. They are destroyed at every })lowing, 
and must be re- made for every crop. For the majority of 
crops that are planted in hills or drills, the furrows be- 



250 IRRIGATION. 

tween the rows will serve for the irrigation of the crop. 
For other crops that are sown broadcast, the furrows may 
be made by rollers, figs. 96 and 97, which press the ground 
into regular corrugations as soon as the seed is sown, and 
harrowed. 

It may be well to notice in this place the exaggerated 
and erroneous ideas of some writers upon the subject of 
irrigation, who do much injury by misleading public 
opinion upon some vital points. For instance in a paper 
upon this subject, published in the Eeport of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture for 1871, it is declared, '^ that with 
very few exceptions, every foot of land lying in Colorado 
and Kansas, between the base of the Eocky Mountains 
and Kansas City on the 
Missouri river, is sus- 
ceptible of irrigation." 
It is true that it is sus- 
ceptible of irrigation if 
the necessary water can ^.„^ i35.-canal on a hill-side. 
be found by this too 

sanguine and mis-informed writer. But the water is not 
there, and in fact but a very small portion of the territory 
can ever be brought under irrigation with the existing sup- 
ply. As an example, the Arkansas valley may be considered. 
The nearest crest of the water-shed, on the north side of 
this river, is 45 miles distant ; on the south it is much 
more distant. If we calculate a territory only 90 miles 
wide, and 500 miles long, depending upon this river, it 
would contain 28,800,000 acres, requiring at one cubic 
foot per second per 100 acres, 288,000 cubic feet per 
second. To supply this there would be required a river 
nearly 2 miles wide and 10 feet deep, flowing 2 miles an 
hour, with no allowance for loss by evaporation and per- 
colation. The Arkansas is not one-fifth of this capacity, 
and could not supply one-tenth of the territory. What 
then becomes of the rest of the territory which is without 




INCORRECT IDEAS. 251 

any great river to supply it ? The absurdity of the above 
assertion is manifest. 

Again, this seems a proper place to refer to the erro- 
neous figuring, noticed on page 172, in regard to the 
canals in California. A canal 55 feet wide, upon the sur- 
face, (and averaging only 50 feet in width), 4 feet deep, 
and flowing 2 miles an hour, can only supply COO cubic 
feet per second, or enough to give one cubic foot per 100 
acres to 60,000 acres, or half a cubic foot, per 100 acres, 
to 120,000 acres ; instead of supplying 325,000 acres— the 
capacity claimed for it. But 25 per cent of the supply 
may easily be lost on the route, and this would serve to 
still further reduce the number of acres served. It is 
very important that these calculations should be made 
with exactness, or some very costly mistakes may be made, 
which may very reasonably tend to disgust persons who 
are not well informed, as to the actual cost and merits of 
irrigation. 

The manner of construction of lesser canals, for dis- 
tributing the water, should be consistent in all respects 
with the conditions and requirements here pointed out ; 
there is probably no necessity to enter into details which, 
might be tedious, and would necessarily be a repetition, 
to some extent, of what has been described heretofore. 

One point, however, must not be omitted ; that is the 
connections of the earth works with flumes, gate frames, 
sluices and boxes for the proper conducting of the water 
into devious courses. It is a known property of water 
that it is very much inclined to ^^ creep" along the sur- 
face of any pipe, arch, culvert or sluice, whether of iron, 
brick, masonry, or wood, which is imbedded in earth 
work. The connections should, therefore, be made with 
great care. As a rule, the walls of gateways, or sluices, 
should be protected with flanking walls of the same 
material of which the main works are constructed, or 
else should be protected by piles driven firmly into the 



252 IKRIGATION". 

bed and braced or anchored into the bank with timber 
stays ; and the water surface of the piling should be 
planked. For small works, piles and wattling of brush 
may serve a very good purpose to prevent erosion and 
undermining. But in whatever way it may be done, 
some protection against the w^earing effect of currents or 
eddies, or the penetration of w^ater into the work should 
be provided, wherever the course of the water is changed, 
and a stream is divided or diverted. 

For smaller ditches or canals, such as those of six feet 
in width or less, a grade of one foot to the thousand will 
be found hardly sufficient. Two feet to the thousand 
would not be an unsafe inclination for such channels, and 
where the soil is firm or tenacious, an inclination of three 
feet might be allowed. The narrower the canal the 
greater ratio of inclination would be needed. 

Caution should be exercised to frequently observe the 
condition of the banks of secondary canals, when the 
soil of which they are made is not of a very consistent 
character, and where the water is confined within em- 
bankments. The cutting of a bank of earth by a current 
of water, is a work which grows rapidly from small be- 
ginnings to great proportions, and a break in a bank may 
be the work of a very short time, if a little wasting is 
allowed to pass unchecked. The damage that may easily 
be done in one short hour, by the escape of the water of 
a ditch carrying but a square foot and a half, would easily 
surprise one unused to such effects, and might be irrepar- 
able for a whole season. While the irrigator is greatly 
benefited by the water he uses, so long as he can control 
it in his service, he is always liable to be damaged if he 
permits his servant to escape control and become his 
master. This, however, can on^y happen by inexcusable 
negligence or mistakes arising from inexperience. 



SILTING OF LANDS. 253 



C H A P T E K XX. 

THE APPLICATION OF WATER TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF 

LANDS.— SILTING OR FERTILIZATION OF LANDS BY 

FLOODING.— RECLAMATION OF SALT MARSHES, 

RIVER FLATS, AND SUBMERGED LANDS 

The metliods of irrigation described in the preceding 
chapters, have for their object the supply to the soil of 
water snfficieut for the growth of various crops, either 
during the season of heat and drouth, or in climates in 
which the rainfall is not sufficient for the needs of vege- 
tation. But there are methods of employing water 
in the improvement, reclamation, or indeed, the actual 
making of land, that belong to the art and practice of 
irrigation which claim at least some notice in this work. 
It is very probable that many years may elapse before the 
gradual growth in value of our agricultural lands shall 
arrive at that point, which will make it desirable to make 
extensive use of these methods of improvement. But 
there are many cases occurring, in which the owners of 
lands that are amenable to improvements of the character 
here referred to, are either putting these improvements 
into operation, or are anxiously seeking for practicable 
plans for reclaiming their property. It would be well, 
however, to caution the owners of waste lands against 
unwisely undertaking large expenditures of money, be- 
fore they have consulted some competent engineer who 
is practiced in this special business, or until they have 
felt their way by completing some portion of the work 
in a satisfactory manner. 

^' Silting, ^^ or fertilizing hy flooding ivith water having 
much earthy matter in suspe7ision, is the first of these in- 
direct methods of irrigation to be treated of. This prac- 
tice depends for its effects upon the presence of much 
suspended matter in the water used ; a large supply of 



254 



IREIGATION. 



water ; a soil that is destitute of fertility in its present 
condition, either naturally, or as the result of damage 
by washing or flooding, and that is so situated that it 
can be covered with water from a muddy stream, from 
which the load of suspended matter may be deposited 
during a period of rest. After this has been done, the 
clear water is withdrawn slowly, so that the newly de- 
posited soil is not disturbed, and a new supply is let on. 

The lands that may be thus improved, are obviously 
only those in river bottoms, or in bends of streams, where 
damage has been inflicted by the washing of freshets, and 
upon which water from the stream may be flowed either 
by damming, or by the high water of floods, and upon 
which the water may be retained by a series of banks 
until it has served its purpose, when it maybe withdrawn 
through flood-gates or sjoouts in the banks. 

After the surface has been brought to a level, or to a 
smooth, regular and not excessive slope, in one direction, 
the arrangements for retaining the water should be made. 
A succession of banks, as described in Chapter XII, pp. 




Fi^. 136.— WASTE GATE. 

126-127, wall be needed. The higher the banks, and the 
deeper the sheet of w^ater that can be retained, the better; 
for the more water that can be impounded, the greater 
the burden of soil that will be deposited. The discharo^e 
of water must be carefully regulated, lest the deposit be 
stirred up by the current, and carried off by the retreat- 
ing waters. To obviate this danger, the gates should 
open at the top, and not at the bottom. The best ar- 



IMPROVEMENT OF SALT-MARSFIES. 255 

rangement consists of a flume of plank, built in the em- 
bankment, as shown at fig. 13G, in which three or four 
or more narrow planks are made to fit in grooves. When 
the water has become clear, and is ready to be withdrawn, 
the top plank is raised at one end, or is removed alto- 
gether, and the water allowed to escape. When the water 
has reached the top of the second plank, that is removed, 
and so on until the ground is cleared. 

As soon as a deposit has been made, sufficient to bear 
a growth of grass, the seed may be sown and the operation 
suspended. It may be repeated again when the herbage 
has taken root, in which case the management will be 
precisely the same as that of a water meadow, described 
in Chapter XII, and the same rules that are there given 
will be proper for its treatment. 

Tlie reclamation of Salt Marshes is a work of draining, 
primarily ; and would be out of place here, except tliat 
the following work, the freshening or desalation of the 
soil, which is a process of irrigation, is so closely con- 
nected with it that the one becomes a part of the other, 
and can only be carried on in conjunction with it. The 
importance of the reclamation of the millions of acres of 
salt marshes along the coasts, is so highly considered by 
thoughtful persons, that at a recent meeting of a scienti- 
fic society at Boston, this was stated to be one of the 
chief means of the recovery of the agriculture of Massa- 
chusetts to its former vigor and profitable success. 

The drainage of salt marshes consists in embanking 
them from the tidal flow, in draining the waters from the 
marsh into ditches, from which the escape is by means 
of sluices with gates which permit the outflowing water . 
to pass, but which close themselves against a flow from 
without. A gate of this character is shown at figure 59. 
As soon as the salt water has been diverted from the land, 
the work is but begun ; for the soil, saturated witli salt, 
produces no herbage but coarse sedges, reeds, or other 



256 IKKIGATTON. 

sea-side plants. Generally there is an abundance of fresh 
water available for the improvement of the marsh, but 
in the effort to keep the 'salt water out this is kept in, 
with tlie result of perpetuating the marsh, notwithstand- 
ing its drainage. The remedy is by flooding the land 
systematically and as copiously as possible with this fresh 
water, and then withdrawing it ; repeating the process 
until the salt has been dissolve i and carried off. 

The remedy can be applied in two ways, at least. The 
one is, in case a stream of water passes through or by the 
marsh, when the fresh water is diverted by a dam in the 
stream and a canal or ditch, upon the salt land, where 
it is retained for a time and then discharged through the 
gate at low tide. Another is, by closing the gates and 
securing them so as to retain all the drainage water until 
the ground is deeply covered, when the gates are opened 
and the water discharged. The repetition of this pro- 
cess will, in time, remove the salt from the soil and leave 
it ready for the plow, and the profitable cultivation of 
crops. To carry out these operations effectively, it is 
only necessary to apply to practice any of the methods, 
found to be most advisable, that are explained and de- 
scribed in the preceding chapters of this book. It is 
difficult to imagine a case, in which it would be impossible 
to apply some of the plans herein described for the 
drainage and irrigation of meadows. 

The Improvement of River Flats, that are partially oi 
periodically submerged, is another of the direct opera- 
tions of irrigation. The object of this improvement is, 
to reclaim low lying banks of gravel, sand, or mud, eithei 
upon the sides of tidal estuaries, or upon streams thai 
have changed their course, and have left these ruined 
spots to mark the ravages made by former freshets. This 
process of reclamation consists in forming banks or 
courses of piles and brush, by which the tidal flow or the 
high water of rivers at certain seasons, when a large quau- 



IMPROVEMENT OF RIVER FLATS, 257 

tity of suspended matter is carried down, is arrested or 
retarded, and made to deposit its burden. 

When land is to be thus reclaimed, the first thing to be 
looked to is the nature of the outfall for future drainage, 
when the newly made ground requires to be dried and 
made fit for cultivation ; the second is, to be sure that the 
amount of solid matter carried in suspension by the 
stream, is sufiicient to warrant the expectation that the 
process will be completed in a reasonable period of time, and 
at a cost that will not surpass the probable future value of 
the land. When these points are decided favorably, the 
next thing is, to choose the method by which the work may 
be done ; as one method may be used, by which eight or 
twelve years may be required to do the work which may 
possibly be done in two or three years, by another method. 
Thus, by simply retarding the flow by cross-lines of 
stakes, with brush wattled between them, or by coarse 
basket work or gabions anchored with stone and deposited 
in lines, which is the least expensive plan, some years may 
elapse before the ground may reach the hight of ordinary 
high water, and become solid enough to sustain an em- 
bankment ; when by throwing up banks of mud upon 
foundations of piles and gabions filled with earth or 
gravel, and making sluice's so as to enclose the muddy 
water and retain it until its load has been dropped, when 
the clear water could flow off, a depth of soil of from 
one foot up to four or five feet has been gained in one 
year. Generally the process is a very slow one, and be- 
fore the work is undertaken some trustworthy estimates 
should be procured, as to the cost of the work, and the 
probable length of time that may be required for its com- 
pletion. 

The erratic course of rivers and their fickle behavior 
when in flood, is an element that deserves close study. 
Much of this depends upon the geological character of 
the banks, as well as upon the velocity of the stream. 



258 



IRRIGATION. 



For instance, it is a well established fact that, while 
coarse gravel resists a current of two miles per hour, fine 
gravel is moved by a current of one mile per hour ; ordi- 
nary sandy soil by a current of half a mile per hour, and 
fine mud is carried away by a current that is almost im- 
perceptible ; so that the abrading action of flowing water 
depends upon both of these contingencies. When a 
stream, flowing with sufficient velocity, meets with a soft 
spot in the bank, it soon excavates a concave outline 
forming a bend, around which the current sweeps and if 
deflected with violence against the opposite bank. Cut- 
ting away then begins in a new place, and a second bend 
is formed here. The effect is continued, the banks are 
hollowed out in opposite directions, the river, deflected 
from bank to bank enlarges the bends and lengthens its 
course. But as the course is lengthened, the fall is re- 
duced, the velocity is decreased, and the destructive 

stream becomes a placid, 
gentle, harmless current ; 
incapable of inflicting fur- 
ther injury upon its banks. 
Besides, in time of floods, 
the broad stretches be- 
tween the bends are swept 
over by the spreading 
stream, and the wide course 
permits the waters to es- 
cape with rapidity, and 
without dangerous veloci- 
137.— PLAN ov A CUT-OFF. ty. Whcu, thcreforc, it is 
determined to reclaim one oi these broad stretches, over 
which the water flows, it must be remembered that it is 
an effort to return to the former conditions when the 
river was an active and destructive agent. The work, 
therefore, requires to be done with care, caution, and 
skill : lest a new course of destructive action be caused, 




CUT-OFF FOR A BEND. 



259 



which may seriously injure the banks below, and totarlly 
upset the slowly acquired stability of the stream. An 
illustration of the channel of a river, that has established 
a winding course, and has formed bends or flats that may 



be brought under improvement, is given in fig. 137. This 




Fig. 138.— SECTION OF CUT-OFF. 

may be either a tidal river, or otherwise. The course of 
reclamation of the extensive tongue of land, surrounded 
by the bend, will be the same in either case. Here is an 
excellent opportunity for a cut across the narrow neck, 
as shown. The cross section of the cut, with its embank- 
ments, is shown at fig. 138. By this cut the current is 
diverted from the bend, which at times of flood may be 
covered with muddy water, and gradually silted up. Two 
gates are made in the right bank of the stream, as shown 




Fig 139. — MODE OF PKOTECTING THE BANK. 

at a, b, fig. 137. The in-flow gate is at a, and the out- 
flow at h. 

The banks of the cut should be protected from the 
abrading action of the increased velocity due to the greater 
fall, by means of rubble stone, retained in place by 
piling and planking, or by the piling alone. Bundles of 
brush may be used in place of stone, and covered with 
earth, as shown at fiar. 139. Nothino- tends more to the 
permanence of a river's banks, than a smooth surface 
upon which the water can find no irregularities to beat 



260 IRRIGATION. 

against, but from which it glides gently. In forming the 
protecting banks, it is best to place them at such a distance 
from the bed of the river, as to leave a solid fore-shore. 
No angles or bends should be made, but the lines should 
either be straight, or in easy curves. The materials should 
be such as will bind firmly together ; a mixture of clay 
and sand being the best. Combinations of masonry and 
earth- work should never be used, as no proper bond or 
union can be formed between them. 

The surfaces of the banks should be covered with 
grass as quickly as possible, and no trees should be plant- 
ed upon artificial embankments. If water passes beneath 
an embankment, a trench should be sunk, and filled with 
clay puddle. When one side of a river is protected, the 
other side is greatly endangered, unless equally guarded, 
and the protecting works should therefore be made upon 
each side. 

Where the formation of a new cut is not possible, as 
upon banks in tidal rivers, or in streams only one bank of 
which is owned, or in estuaries, the method of staking or 
piling, should be adopted. This consists in driving piles 
or stakes, in double or single rows, across the tract to be 
reclaimed; or in dividing it into sections by cross lines of 
stakes or piles with brush interwoven, or by making de- 
posits of stone along the lines of stakes. By these 
methods the current is retarded, eddies are formed, and 
the water is rendered stagnant ; in either case, any 
suspended matter is dropped within the lines of the ob- 
structions. As the surface rises, additional stakes are 
driven and more brush is placed between them, and 
weighted down with stones, until the level is raised 
sufficiently to warrant the exclusion of the water by more 
solid structures. Runs or water-ways, by which the re- 
ceding water escapes, whether it be the tidal flow or the 
water of rivers, are to be filled by running lines of stakes 
across them, and filling between them with brush or 



COST OF THE KECLAMATION. 261 

stone. These cross lines should be made lower in the 
center than at the ends, lest the water should escape 
around either or both ends, and form new channels. 
When deep gullies have been formed, a different course 
must be pursued, viz. : to throw into the deepest part 
coarse basket work, gabions, or bundles of brush, which 
are loaded with stones, until the bottom is gradually 
raised ; when it will become possible to use the stakes 
and brush. When the level of the made ground reaches 
the usual high water mark, it is ready to be enclosed 
between banks, and rarely before this point is reached. 
The course to be followed is tlien such as has been already 
described in this chapter. 

The surface having appeared above water, and having 
been embanked and freshened, as previously described, it 
is prepared for cultivation by being sown to grass as a 
preliminary proceeding ; for this may be grown long be- 
fore any other cultivated crop can succeed. Perhaps as 
meadow and pasture land it will be found more profitable 
than in any other condition, because of the ease with 
which it may be brought under irrigation, and kept as a 
water meadow ; for there are scarcely any lands better 
situated for this purpose, or that can be more cheaply and 
profitably managed in this way, than such lauds as are 
here under consideration. 

The cost of such a process of reclamation, as is describ- 
ed in this chapter, will of CDurse depend considerably 
upon the size of the tract operated upon ; the more or less 
favorable circumstances attending the operation ; and the 
skill with which the works are managed. The most 
reasonable estimate, when every thing is favorable, is $25 
per acre, and from this sum up to $100 per acre may be 
held to be the probable limits of the cost, unless some 
very unfavorable circumstances present themselves. 

Finally, it may be stated that to insure success in any 
of the methods of reclamation here considered, 



2C2 IRRIGATION. 

First, the space to be reclaimed must exist within the 
influence of water which contains much alluvial matter, 
whether it be situated upOn the banks of an inland stream, 
or of a tidal river or estuary. 

Second, that the spaces to be reclaimed shall be allow- 
ed to receive the deposit left by the water for as long a 
period as possible, and the water should not be excluded 
until, by gradual accretion, the surface of the land has 
been brought, if possible, to the level of high water of 
ordinary tides, or above the ordinary level of the stream. 

Third, that careful surveys and observations should be 
made of the amount and quality of the solid matter 
brought down by the stream, in order to determine the 
length of time that will be required to complete the re- 
clamation ; its cost when complete, and the probable 
value of the land wdien it is made and brought under 
cultivation. 

As an instance of the profitable reclamation of marsh 
lands, bordering upon rivers, and that are periodically 
overflowed, the '^tule" lands of California may be cited. 
These lands have been formed by gradual accretions, 
brought down by the rivers, until they have risen above 
the level of low water. At seasons of flood, these lands 
are overflowed. AYhen embanked, drained, and reclaim- 
ed, these lands bear enormous crops of alfalfa, grass, or 
wheat. Eight tons of hay, and 40 to 75 bushels of 
wheat, per acre, have been grown upon these reclaimed 
lands, and there are none more valuable than these in the 
whole State. The process of reclamation consists of em- 
banking, draining, and irrigating, although from the 
moist character of these lands, and the great dtpth of 
soil, it is only in the more than usually dry seasons that 
irrigation is found necessary, and then not by any means 
to so great an extent as is needed by the valley lands. 



MEASUREMENT OF WATER SUPPLY. 263 

C H A P T E E XXL 
MEASUREMENT OF WATER SUPPLY. 

VELOCITY AND PASSAGE OF WATER IN PIPES. — PRESSURE OF WATER IN 
PIPES. — QUANTITY EBCAPi:^G FROM SUBMERGED ORIFICES. — MINERS' 
INCHES. 

Water has become a commercial commodity, and is 
now largely bought and sold for the purposes of irriga- 
tion. Since the first edition of this work was published, 
the practice of irrigation has become common over what 
may be called the central and western portions of the 
United States, and extensive irrigation works have been 
constructed as far east as the Arkansas Valley, in Kan- 
sas. The agriculture of all that part of the country 
which lies west of the western boundary of Kansas and 
Nebraska, from the Rio Grande to the line of British 
America, depends almost wholly upon irrigation, and the 
United States will shortly possess the most extensive sys- 
tem of irrigating works in the world, surpassing even 
those of the East Indies. To give an idea of the magni- 
tude of these works, might be mentioned the new enter- 
prise in Merced County, California. Here the waters of 
the Merced river are taken in a system of canals, seventy- 
five miles long, and spread over four hundred thousand 
acres of land, which, without this water, are doomed to 
permanent aridity and worthlessness. This territory has 
now a population of eight thousand only ; while the 
Province of Piedmont, in Italy, having only fifty thou- 
sand acres more than Merced County, has two million 
and six hundred thousand. This province has four 
thousand miles of canals and ditches, and its surplus 
merchantable products comprise twenty million gallons 
of wine ; two million bushels of wheat ; five million 
pounds of rice ; forty million pounds of cheese ; more 
than ten million dollars worth of silk, and a large num- 



264 IRRIGATION. 

ber of horses, cattle, and sheep. All this is the product 
of irrigation, and the fignres give us but a faint idea of 
what may be accomplished in our own country in the 
course of a few years of the present rapid growth of 
agriculture, and of prosperous industrial enterprise. 

It also gives us a pretty clear idea of the merchantable 
value of water, the agent by which all this wealth is 
developed from an arid and useless soil, and of the 
necessity for husbanding it with the greatest care. 
And this value, as a matter of course, implies the neces- 
sity for the farmer who purchases it, to know precisely 
what he is getting for his money, and that in the dis- 
tribution of it, he gets his right and proper share. 

The methods of measuring water, then, are of para- 
mount interest, not only to purchasers, but also to owners 




of streams who sell the water ; and some simple and 
easy methods cf measurements will be found useful. A 
flowing stream may be measured, and its capacity for 
delivering water known, first, by surface measurement ; 
and, second, when the stream is small enough, by a weir 
dam, made of plank, and notched accurately, as hereafter 
described. A large, flowing stream, is measured across 
at right angles to the current, and its average depth is 
taken as shown in the diagram given in figure 140. The 
depths are taken at regular distances across, and the 
measurements are added together. The sum is divided by 
the number of measurements, and the product is the 
average depth. This average depth, multiplied by the 
width of the river, give the square feet of section. The 
next thing to be done, is to find the rate of flow. To do 
this, a stake is driven on the bank of the stream at a 



MEASUREMEN"T OF WATER SCPPLY. 



265 



convenient point, where the flow is even and regular. A 
float is thrown into the middle of the stream above the 
stake, and the time at which the float passes the stake is 
taken. The observer then goes down with the float 
along the bank, watch in hand, and notes the precise 
place which the float passes at the end of a minute. A 
mark is made here, and the distance from it to the stake 
is measured in feet. This number is multiplied by the 



^-^X^M^^^^^-v| 



Fig. 141.— MEASURING THE QUANTITY OF WATER. 

number of square feet in the cross section, and the total 
sum gives the number of cubic feet passing down the 
stream per minute. 

For a small stream, a gate similar to that shown in 
figure 136, page 254, may be used ; measuring the velocity 
as above described ; but the stream must not be narrowed 
or confined. The best way is, to make a dam like that 
shown at figure 141. This is made of plank, with a notch 
cut in it, as shown in the engraving, the opening being 
beveled outwards (see A and B), and the sharp edge being 
presented to the stream. The bottom is beveled in the 
same way. This notch, or opening, should not exceed 
two-thirds the width of the stream. This plank should 



26Q 



IRKIGATIOJ^-. 



be set at a perfect level, and no water permitted to 
pass around it. A stake is driven in the bed of the 
stream, six feet above the- weir, and the top of it is left 
on an exact level with the bottom of the notch in the 
weir, as shown by the dotted line D. When the stream 
is at its normal flow, the depth of water is found by 
measuring with a common square, as shown by the line 
C. The weir is put in at such a height as will bring the 
water where the stake is driven to a dead level, so that it 
passes over the weir without any pressure or velocity, 
due to a slope or fall. To save the trouble of calculating 
the quantity passing over such a dam, and through such 
an orihce, the following table is given : 

TABLE FOR WEIRS. 



Inches 

Depth on 

Weir 






Vs 


\'4 


3/ 


\'2 


% 


Vi 


0.40 


0.41 


0.56 


0.65 


0.74 


0.83 


0.97 


1.14 


1.25 


1.36 


1.47 


1.59 


1.71 


1.84 


2.09 


2.12 


2.36 


2.60 


2.64 


2.78 


2.93 


3.2:3 


3.38 


3.53 


3.69 


3.85 


4.01 


4.17 


4.51 


4.68 


4.85 


5-02 


5 20 


5.3S 


5.58 


5 92 


6.10 


6.30 


6.49 


6.68 


6.87 


7.07 


7.46 


7.67 


7.87 


8.07 


8.28 


8.49 


8.70 


9.12 


9 33 


9.55 


9.77 


9.99 


10 21 


10.43 


10.88 


11.11 


11.34 


11.57 


11.80 


12.04 


12.27 


12.75 


13.15 


13.23 


13.47 


13.73 


13.96 


14.21 


14.71 


14.96 


15.21 


15 46 


15.72 


15.93 


18.24 


ie.76 


17.02 


17.28 


17.55 


17.82 


18.03 


18.35 


18.89 


19.17 


19.44 


19.72 


20.00 


20.27 


20.56 


21.12 


21.40 


21.68 


21.97 


22.26 


22.. 55 


22.83 


23.43 


23.71 


24.01 


24.30 


24.60 


24.90 


25 19 


25.80 


26.10 


20.41 


26.71 


27.02 


27.32 


27.63 


2S.26 


28.57 


28.88 


29.19 


29.51 


29.83 


30.14 


30.78 


31.11 


31.43 


31.75 


32.07 


32.40 


32.73 



1.03 

1.96 

3.06 

4.35 

5.74 

7.27 

8.91 

10.66 

12.51 

14.46 

16.49 

18.62 

20.83 

23.13 

25.50 

27.91 

30.46 

33.05 



The above table for weirs gives the number of cubic 
feet per minute that will pass over a weir one inch wide, 
and from one inch to eighteen and seven-eighlh inches 
deep. In the left-hand column, marked " inches depth 
on weir,^' is the depth of water flowing over the weir, 
and the second column, under 0, is the number of cubic 
feet per minute for the even inches in depth. In the 



MEASUREMEI^T OF WATER SUPPLY. 267 

third column, under one-eighth, is the amount of the 
second column, with the additional one-eighth inch in 
depth added, and so on across the table from left to 
right. 

By multiplying the number of cubic feet that one inch 
in width will discharge, as stated in table, by the width 
of the weir in inches, the result will be the total discharge 
of weir per minute. 

In estimating the quantity of water which can be de- 
livered in a sloping channel, it should not be forgotten 
that as the fall increases, the velocity increases, accord- 
ing to a well known principle in hydro-dynamics ; but 
that any quantity of water passing through any given 
orifice, at the head of a fall, or slope, whether the pas- 
sage is opened or confined, cannot be increased by any 
means whatever, other than by adding to the velocity at 
the point of inflow. No possible draft or suction can 
increase the quantity entering the channel or passage. 
This affects very considerably the passage of water 
through flumes, or pipes, and may be justly considered 
in regard to the subject of irrigation, for it is often 
necessary, or desirable, to carry water in this way down 
considerable declivities. As the velocity increases, the 
size of the stream diminishes in exact ratio, for it is 
evident that if one cubic foot of water is discharged 
through a pipe at a velocity of two hundred feet per 
minute, only half as much can be discharged if the 
velocity is increased by the fall to four hundred feet per 
minute. Moreover, as velocity increases, so the friction 
in the pipe or channel increases ; and this is to be taken 
into account. This friction is an element opposed to 
velocity, and necessarily decreases the amount of the lat- 
ter, which, according to the law of the velocity of falling 
bodies, increases in a certain ratio with the distance and 
the time. Thus a body falls sixteen feet the first second; 
thirty-two feet in the next second ; forty-eight in the 



268 irrigatio:n^. 

third ,• and so on ; the accelerated velocity being in exact 
ratio with the increase in time. A body of water, then, 
equal to one square foot in, cross section, passing through 
a pipe with a fall of sixteen feet, will leave the pipe at 
the end of forty-eight feet in a stream liaving only a cross 
section of forty-eight square inches, or one third of a square 
foot, because it has a velocity three times as great as when 
it entered the pipe. This is, however, subject to tlie re- 
tarding effect of friction, which varies very considerably, 
according to the nature of the pipe ; the rougher the sur- 
face, and the more tortuous the pipe or channel may be, 
the greater will be the friction. In practice, it has been 
found that in rough, wooden pipes, with considerable 
angular deviation, nearly the whole effect of the head is 
easily lost ; while in smooth, cast-iron pipes, the loss is 
about one-third for short pipes, up to a total loss of head 
for a certain length in small pipes, because it has been 
shown, that as the friction increases as the square of the 
velocity, and being greater than the velocity, it must 
necessarily overpower the motive force, unless the pipe is 
large, and the fall is great enough to increase the velocity 
sufficiently. In a case in which the writer was consulted, 
a leaden pipe, half an inch in diameter, was used for the 
conveyance of v/ater from a spring twenty-five hundred 
feet distant. A small water-wheel operated a force 
pump, to drive the water to the cistern. It was found 
that the discharge amounted only to a slow drip from the 
end of the pipe, and the water-wheel could scarcely be 
made to move. The cause was that the friction through 
the pipe, neutralized the force of the wheel and the 
falling water. By a larger wheel, the pipe was burst, 
but by replacing the first twelve hundred feet of pipe 
with one of three-quarter-mch diameter, the flow of water 
was made satisfactory. In another case, a water-works 
company laid a sixteen-inch pipe to carry the water, and 
the discharge was found inadequate. The lower half of 



MEASUREMENT OF WATER SUPPLT. 269 

the pipe was reliiid with one of twenty-inch diameter, but 
the discharge was not increased. Had the upper half been 
changed for twenty-inch pipe, the lower pipe would have 
delivered a full stream, and the supply would have been 
all that had been expected. Such cases as these are often 
occurring in the practice of hydraulic engineering, and 
apply to many circumstances connected with irrigation. 

For the convenience of those readers who are able to 
work out algebraical calculations, or who wish to follow 
the recognized formulas given by the highest authorities 
upon hydraulic engineering, the following examples are 
presented : 

In a perfectly straight and smooth pipe, the quantity 
of water that wdll bo discharged in a given time depends 
only upon the head. The velocity of the water will be 
that acquired by falling through the given head, and the 
quantity discharged will be the velocity multiplied by the 
cross section of the pipe. Algebraically, these results 
will be expressed as follows: v'^=\2(/h, and Q.=vxS, 
where v is the velocity in feet per second, h the head in 
feet, Q the number of cubic feet discharged per second, 
g the velocity acquired by a body in falling one second, 
and S the cross section of the pipe in feet. 

In practice, it is found that the actual velocity with 
the smoothest pipes, made is much less than the theoreti- 
cal ; part of the head being taken up in overcoming the 
resistance of friction. In the case of curved pipes, there 
is another loss of head, and consequently of velocity, at 
each bend. Numerous experiments have been made to 
determine the amount of this frictional resistance, and 
formulas have been constructed from the results. These ■ 
formulas should always be checked by actual experiment, 
when great accuracy is required, as the results are greatly 
altered by seemingly unimportant details. Our object, 
here, is to give the best and simplest formula for general 
use. Very good tables, showing the amount of water 



270 



irrigatio:n". 



discliargod un^ler clillereut heads from pipes of various 
diameters and lengths, will be found in Trautwine's 
*' Engineer's Pocket Book^" 

For smooth iron pipes, Prony's formula is as follows : 
^=8-00040085 xL-^[(z;XO •15412)'— 0-03375)] ; it may 
be thus translated : To find the necessary head of water 
to produce a given velocity of discharge, add 0*15412 to 
the velocity, square the sum, subtract 0*02375, and mul- 
tiply the difference by 0*00040085 times the length of the 
pipe divided by the diameter, noting that all dimensions 
are to be taken in feet. 



Table Showing the Velocitt and Discharge of Water Through 
Submerged Orifices. 

Showing the theoretical Hpouiinj velocity of water in feet per second and num- 
ber of cubic feet discharged per minute through an orifice of one 
inch area, under different heads, from one to forty feet. 

(Calculated from Francis' Formulas.) 



1 


s 1 


Cubic feet per 

minute, area 

of orifice, 1 in. \ 


1 


II 


112 

ti! 


4 

1 


1! 

2 1 


Cubic feet per 

minute, area 

of orifice, 1 in. 


1 


IS. 


Cubic feet per 

minute, area 

of wifice, lin. 


1 


8.03 


3.34 


11 


26.60 


11.08 


21 


36.75 


15.31 


31 


44.65 


18.60 


2 


11.34 


4.73 


12 


27.78 


11.57 


22 


37.62 


15.66 


33 


45.37 


18.90 


8 


13. S9 


5.78 


13 


28.91 


12.05 


23 


38.48 


16.02 


33 


46.07 


19.20 


4 


16.04 


6.68 


14 


30.00 


12.49 


24 


39.29 


16.36 


34 


46.76 


19.48 


5 


17.93 


7.47 


15 


31.06 


12.94 


25 


40.10 


16.71 


35 


47.45 


19.76 


6 


19.64 


8.18 


16 


32.08 


13.36 


26 


40.89 


17.04 


36 


48.13 


20.05 


7 


21.22 


8.84 


17 


33.06 


13.77 


27 


41.67 


17.36 


37 


48.78 


20.33 


8 


22.68 


9.45 


18 


34.02 


14.18 


28 


42.43 


17.63 


38 


49.44 


20.60 


9 


24.06 


10.02 


19 


34.96 


14.57 


29 


43.19 


17.98 


39 


50.08 


20.87 


10 


25.36 


10.57 


20 


35.87 


14.94 


30 


43.93 


18.30 


40 


50.72 


31.13 



The above table represents the Theoretic velocity and 



discharge duo to the orifice. 



The Method of Measurij^'G Water for irrigating 
purposes, when it is paid for by the measure, is obviously 
very important to both the purchaser and the seller. 
There is a vast difference between theory and practice in 



MEASUREMENT OF WATER SUPPLY. 



271 



this respect. Indeed, theoretical liydro-dynamics is not 
to be depended upon, until it is adequately proved by 
practical experiment ; nor is it safe to reason from one 
set of experiments, as a guide under different circum- 
stances. For instance, the table, p. 270, is given that 
it may be compared with the practical methods used in 
irrigating, and other hydraulic works, but chiefly in hy- 
draulic mining in Calif oruia. 

In ordinary practice, the actual velocity and discharge 
is very much less than this, as v\-ill be seen, when we 
come to compare these figures with those calculated and 
used by the hydraulic miners in California. 

The ^^ miner's inch," is an arbitrary measurement of 
water, established many years ago by the miners in the 




Fig. 142.— MEASUKING AN INCH OF WATER. 

various camps, in accordance with the laws which they 
adopted. It is a quantity of water, which is discharged 
from an opening one inch square, through a two-inch 
plank, with a pressure of six inches above the opening. 
The illustration given in figure 142, shows how the 
opening in the plank is made to j^ermit free escape of 
the water. 

The " Smartville inch," is calculated from a discharge 
through a four-inch orifice, with a seven-inch board 
above the opening ; thus giving a nine-inch pressure 



272 IRKIGATIOH. 

from the center. This amount of pressure, however, is 
fallacious, because it does not exist above the upper 
edge of the opening ; the rush of water to and through 
the orifice removing a considerable portion of the pres- 
sure, due to the hight above the center of the opening. 
The pressure may, therefore, be considered to be due 
only to the seven-inch head. The bottom of the aperture 
is on a level with the bottom of the box, and the board 
which regulates the pressure, is oue inch thick and seven 
inches wide. An opening four inches wide, and two 
hundred and fifty inches long, with the seven-inch pres- 
sure above the top of the orifice, discharges one thousand 
Smartville inches. Each square inch of the opening dis- 
charges 1.76 cubic feet per minute, which is nearly the 
same as the discharge per inch from a two-inch orifice 
through a three-inch plank, with a pressure of nine 
inches above the center of the opening, and which is 
equal to 1.78 cubic feet per minute. The Smartville 
inch, discharges 2,534.40 cubic feet in twenty-four hours; 
but the inch in this district is only calculated for eleven 
hours discharge. 

The inch of the ^^Park Canal Company," in El Dorado 
County, California, discharges 1.39 cubic feet per min- 
ute. That of the '^ South Yuba Canal Company," is 
composed from a discharge aperture two inches square, 
through a one and one-half inch plank, with a pressure of 
six inches above the center of the orifice. The ^* La Grange 
Canal Company's" inch, is calculated from a discharge 
through an opening, .fifty inches long, and two inches 
wide, through a three-inch plank ; the level of the water 
being seven inches above the center of the opening. 

An elaborate series of experiments w^ere made to es- 
tablish the actual value of this inch, at an elevation of 
twenty-nine hundred feet above sea level (a barometrical 
pressure of about 26.7 inches). The orifice used was a 
rectangular slit, fifty inches long, and two inches wide, 



MEASUREMEliT OF WATER SUPPLY. 273 

with a pressure of seven inches above the center of the 
aperture. The })lank used was three inches thick, the 
last opening chamfered for one inch, as shown at figure 
142. The size of the opening, and the level of the water, 
and the time, were all measured with the greatest scien- 
tific accuracy, and with the most exact micrometrical 
adjustments. The following results were obtained : 

Cubic feet. 

Discharge of one inch per second 0.2624 

" " " " " minute 1.5744 

" " " " liour 94.46i0 

'' " " " 24 bouvs 2267.13G0 

The ratio of the actual to the theoretical discharge was 
61.6 per cent. These figures are supposed to be prac- 
tically exact, as every precaution was taken by frequent 
repetition, to eliminate any possible error. 

Other experiments were made to test the La Grange 
inch, with the follov\^ing results, viz: 

Cubic fee'. 

• Discharge of one inch in one second O.T4^D 

" " " " " " minute 1.4994 

" " " " " hour 89.9940 

" " " " 24 hours 2159.1400 

Ratio of the actual to the theoretical discharge, 50.05 
pe.' cent. 

These results are now made the basis of the measure- 
ments of water delivered by the canal companies when 
sales are made by the inch. This is the most satisfactory 
method, and when the inch is calculated for the whole 
of the twenty-four hours, and the aperture is accurately 
measured, the purchaser cim use no more than he pays 
for, and he can not have less, so long as the level of the 
water is maintained at the distributing gate. It is seen 
by the ,>hoYe statement, in regard to the Smartville inch, 
that when the orifice is on a level with the floor of the 
gate, the discharge is somewhat larger than when the 



274 ISlllGATIOK. 

opening is raised above the floor. By noting the con- 
yerging lines, indicating the rush of the water to the 
opening, when it is above tlie floor, it will be seen that 
cross currents are made by which the flow is retarded, 
and less water is passed than when these currents are 
prevented by the floor of the measuring gate. 



INDEX. 



Absorption of Water by Soils 24 

AinUla, Cultiviitioii of 186 

Arable Lands?, Irrii^ation of 103 

*Arrauyeiueut of Inij,^ate(l Garden. 4(i 
Artesian Welif=, Inadequacy of.. ^3-207 
♦Artesian Welis, Principle of 236 

*Bank, River, Protection of 25!) 

*Beds, Formation of for Gardeiif^... 41 

Beets, Cultivation of 188 

Broom Corn, Cultivation of 183 

♦California, Canals, Plan of, in 192 

Eainfall in ]5 

Irrigation liy Tiles in 56 

Irrigation in 171 

Broom Corn in 183 

Value of Tule Lanils in 262 

Vineyards in B8 

*Canals, Capacity of 216 

Formation of 191-237-244-219 

Proper Fall for 23^ 

Protection of Banks 243 

*Cart for Liquid Manure 70 

♦Cistern, Brick 37 

♦ Open 38 

Climate, Eftects of 26 

Clover, Cultivation of 187 

Ooioiado. Irrigation in 167 

Coiton, Cultivation of 185 

Commission, Congressional to Cali- 
fornia.. . .". 173 

Corn, Cultivation of 183 

Cost of Irrioatiou 30-164-163 

of Reclaiming Salt Marshes. .261 

Croton River Water, Analysis of 19 

Crops, Management of various Gar- 
den 81 

Management of Field 183 

Cultivation of the Soil 79 

♦Culvert for a road 50 

♦ for a Reservoir 232 

♦Cut-off in a Bend of River 258 

♦Dam. Form of 111-214 

♦ Brush and LoiT 221 

♦ Construction of 207-215 

♦ Piles and Rock 921 

Rule for Calculating Size of. .215 

♦ Wing, Longitudinal 20S 

♦ Cr;)ss 210 

♦ with Culvert and Tower 232 

Delaware River W.'i'i'r, Analysis of. 19 
Drainaire with Ii.r'ii^Mtion 115 

of Irrigated Fields 145 

♦ of S"A'amp, Examples of 146 

♦ of a Meadow 1-19 



Drains. Position of 79 

♦ of Stone 114 

♦ between Furrows 142 

♦ Manner of Closing 150 

♦Drills, Irrigation of Crops in 43 

Efl'ects of Irriuration on Nut-bearing 

Trees: 93 

on Orchards and Vineyards .. 94 

Errors in Estimates 523 

Estimates of Water Needed 23 

Evaporation of Water 12-25-26 

Flax, Cultivation of 184 

♦ Flow, Manner of Diverting 136 

Fodder Crops 77-187 

Fruits, Culture of 8:> 

♦Fuirows for Steep Slope -io 

♦ Form of 49-139 

♦ Protected 49 

♦ Cross, Trough for 50 

■^ for a Mea(l()\\- 135-139 

♦ i'or Inclined Field 136 

♦ Layinir Out 141 

♦ for a Slope 141-142 

♦ Catch water 144 

♦ for Irregular Surface 194 

Garden Crops, Culture of 78-81 

Time for Watering 79 

Gardens. Irrigation of 31-46 

♦Gates, Hand 45-248 

♦ for Draining Meadows 127 

♦ for Canals.: 127-247 

♦ Waste 254 

Grade, Proper fen- Canals 252 

Grass. Value of Crop 17 

Product of, on Irrigated 

Meadows 96 

Greeley, (Col.). Irrigatinir Canals. ..16« 

Hemp," Cultivation of . .' 1S4 

♦Hills. Crops in, Irrigation of 44 

♦ Furrows for . . 144 

♦ Terraces lor 144 

♦ Improvement of 200 

Hollow. Improvement of a 200 

Horse-Power. Effect of 34 

Hudson River Water, Analysis of. . . 19 
♦Hu'rdles for Pastures l.'iS 

♦ Moval)le 154 

♦ Plan of Setting 155 

♦Imi)lemontsUscd in IrriL^ntion. 138-202 

[mprovementof Land for ISO 

Irrigated Fields, Management of. .152 

♦ Plan of 192 



♦ lllustruted. 



275 



276 



INDEX. 



Iirij^'ation, Cost of 1C,4 

Antitiuiiy oi' 165-178 

ill Cuiorucio 167 

Effects of Ibl 

Italy, Irriyiiliou in tS 

Kansas, Possibility c/f Irrigiition in. 170 I 

Lands that may be Irri^'ated 21 

♦Level IbrDniius 115 I 

Liquid Mannre, In'ii^ation witli 57 

iSIaiiiiiiein nt of 05 

* Flans for Use of 59 

* Pii lip lor GS 

* Tank for 67 

Value-of 1-2 

* Use of on Farms 73 

for Fodder Crops 77 

*Meado\v, Irriirated, Plan of. .97-09-135 
Water. Formation of llS-134-137 

Draina>,^eof 122-1 4-i 

Fertilizers lor 101 

Crashes for 120-159 

* in a Valley 123 

in Eastern Fiance. 130 

Management of 128-158 

* with " Furrows and 

Drains 142 

Meadows and Pastures, Irri^'ation ofl33 

Lri^^aiion of 95 

Irrigated, in England 104 

Time of Irrigation of 100-l:J2 

Orchards, Irrigation of 87 

* Irrigated. Plan of 88-89 

Ownership of Water 172 

Passaic River Water. Analysis of. . . 19 
Pastures, Irrigation of 153 

* Hurdles for 153 

Season for Irrigation of 156 

Pioes, Capacilv of 34 

* " and Hose. Irrigation by 53 

* and Hydrants, Irrigation by.. 54 
Ii'rigation by 51 

* Trri i:a I ion of Meadows l)y,... 55 

Plow, Swivel, Use of 190 

Profit of trrigation 174 

Puddle Work in Dams 219 

*Pump. Blunt's Universal Force. ..220 

* Centriiugal 224 

* Liquid Manure OS 

* Steam, Wliitman & Bui'reirs.225 

* Wooden 39 

Pumps, Use of 222 

Rainfall in En<rland and America. 11 

in California 15 

increased by Irrigatioti 181 

Reclamation of River Flats 250 

Salt Mar.-hes 255 

Su merged Lands 250 

Reservoirs. Ancient in India 227 

Capacity of 207 

Construction of 228-234 

in a Vallev 229 

* Manner of Discharging 108 



^Reservoirs on Uneven Ground ... 234 

* Plan of 107-108 

Rivera, Capiicity of 35 

Solid Matter Conveyed by . . . 20 

Us ' of, in Irrigation 35 

*Roads, Cnlvtrie for 50 

♦Rollers 2trt> 

Rolling, EfiVets of 206 

Schuylkill River Water. Annivsis of. 19 
*Scraperlor Leveling the Soil.. 138 203 

Silling. Improvement b\ ',53 

Siphon tor a Rrseivoir 110 

*SiopiiigCrouiid. Furrows r(.r4o-141-142 

Soils, Absorjjiive Powers of 24 

Sor-hniu. Cultivation of 187 

♦Spout for Passing Water 128 

Springs, Inadequacy of 29 

* Collecting Water of 112-117 

* Use of in Irrigation 105-116 

Si reams. Velocity of 2-10 

Subsoil, Effects of 29 

Supply of Water 207 

Surface, Pre])araiion of 40-189 

Irregular 195 

♦Tank, Barrel 62 

♦Tanks for a House 59 

* for Storage of Water 33 

* Liqtiid Manure 67 

* Sell-Discharging 00 

Teasels. Cultivaticni of ^S8 

Teiraciii- Hill-sides l-44-2(il 

Tiles, Irrigalion by 51 

Tobacco, Cultivation of 185 

Utah, Irrigation in 181 

♦Valleys. Geological Form of. .230-231 
Value of Lands that mav be Irrigated 51 

of Cups bv Irrigation 52 

*Va^ es for Discharging 232 

Vtdocity of Streams 240 

Vineyards, Inii^ation of 87 

in Calitornia 88 

ill Europe 88 

Irrigated. Plan of 91 

Water a Nutriment for Plants 9 

Amoniit contained in Plants.. 9 
Evaporated for one lb. of grain 12 
Analysis of River Waters. ... 19 
Amount needeu for Irrigation 

21-27 

Meadows in En<rland 102 

♦ Formation of.. .118-123-126 
Grasses for. 120 

♦ Mode of Elevating 124 

Cost of 177 

Sunpivof 207 

Pie^>ureof 212 

Wei-ht of Cub c Foot of 36 

Wateri 11- Times for 79-179 

♦Wells, Irriuaiion from 48 

Wlu-at Crop- ^laiia-ement of 182 

♦ Wheel for Raising Water 124 

♦ Windmills 33 

Winter Iriigation 101 









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